He said, “We have been shown a tunnel and we want to go in.”
Majzaʿah replied, “Then I am with you.”
Majzaʿah was the first to enter. When he came out of the tunnel the enemy crushed him with a boulder. The rest of the men emerged after him, and then al-Barāʾ came out and fought them in the midst of the city. Majzaʿah was killed, and God granted the Muslims victory. (1)
Salamah narrated—from his uncle ʿAqīl, from al-Zuhrī, from Anas, traced back to the Prophet—who said: “How many a weak, downtrodden man clad in two tattered garments: were he to swear by God, He would surely fulfill it. Among them is al-Barāʾ ibn Mālik.”
Later al-Barāʾ faced the idolaters at a time when they had inflicted heavy losses on the Muslims. They said to him, “O Barāʾ! The Messenger of Allah said that if you were to swear an oath by God, He would certainly grant it; so adjure your Lord.”
He said, “By You I swear, my Lord—grant us their backs!” and he related the remainder of the report. (2)
ʿAbd al-Salām ibn Muṭahhar said: Abu Sahl al-Baṣrī (3) narrated to us, from Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn,
(1) All the transmitters are trustworthy, but the isnad is munqatiʿ (broken); Ibn Sirin never heard directly from al-Baraʾ.
(2) Related by al-Hakim, 3/292, who declared it sahih and was followed by al-Dhahabi; by Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr in al-Istiyab, 1/286; and by al-Tirmidhi (no. 3853, “Chapters on the Merits of al-Baraʾ b. Malik”) through the chain of Jaʿfar b. Sulayman → Thabit and ʿAli b. Zayd → Anas b. Malik. The Prophet, peace be upon him, said: “Many a dishevelled, dust-covered man in two ragged garments, to whom people pay no attention; yet if he were to swear by Allah, Allah would certainly grant it. Among them is al-Baraʾ b. Malik.” Al-Tirmidhi graded the hadith hasan sahih on this route, and that evaluation is sound. — al-ashʿath: one whose hair has long gone without oil, combing, or washing; al-tamar: a thread-bare garment; “to whom people pay no attention” means he is unknown and of little worldly standing; “would certainly grant it” means Allah would honour his oath because of his truthfulness, making him truthful and not forsworn.
(3) Abu Sahl al-Basri – Muhammad b. ʿAmr al-Ansari, the waqifi – is weak. In the printed edition his name has been corrupted to “al-Nadri.”