Al-Wāqidī said: Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Usāmah related to us, from Abū al-Ḥuwayrith, who said:
“Zayd ibn Ḥārithah went out as commander on seven separate expeditions (1).”
Al-Wāqidī also reported: the nephew of al-Zuhrī narrated to us, from al-Zuhrī, from ʿUrwah, from ʿĀʾishah, who said:
“Zayd ibn Ḥārithah returned from that campaign—meaning the expedition against Umm Qirfah—while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was in my house. Zayd (2) knocked at the door, so the Messenger of Allah ﷺ rose, dragging his cloak behind him, unclothed; I had never seen him in that state before. He embraced Zayd, kissed him, and then questioned him, and Zayd told him of the victory Allah had granted him (3).”
Ibn Isḥāq reported: from Yazīd ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Qusayṭ, from Muḥammad ibn Usāmah, from his father, who said:
“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to Zayd ibn Ḥārithah, ‘O Zayd! You are my mawla (freedman), you are part of me, close to me, and the most beloved of people to me.’”
Aḥmad recorded it in the Musnad (4).
(1) Ibn Sad, vol. 3, part 1, p. 31.
(2) The word “Zayd” is omitted in the printed edition.
(3) The chain is weak because of the weakness of al-Waqidi. Al-Zuḥri’s nephew is Muhammad b. ʿAbd Allah b. Muslim. Al-Tirmidhi (no. 2733, Book of Seeking Permission, chapter: “Embracing and Kissing”) also recorded the report through Muhammad b. Ismaʿil – Ibrahim b. Yahya – Muhammad b. ʿAbbad al-Madani – his father – Muhammad b. Isḥaq – Ibn Shihab al-Zuḥri – ʿUrwa – ʿAʾisha. Al-Tirmidhi graded it ḥasan even though both Ibrahim b. Yahya and his father are weak, and Ibn Isḥaq is a mudallis who narrated it with an unqualified “ʿan.” A parallel report from al-Shaʿbi states that the Prophet ﷺ met Jaʿfar b. Abi Talib, embraced him, and kissed him between the eyes; Abu Dawud (no. 5220) transmits it, but the chain is broken. Ibn Hajar notes in Fath al-Bari, 11/51, that al-Baghawi related it in Muʿjam al-Sahabah with a continuous chain from ʿAʾisha, yet that isnad contains Muhammad b. ʿAbd Allah b. ʿUbayd b. ʿUmayr, who is weak.
(4) Ahmad, 5/204, gives a longer version, and Ibn Sad, 3/1/29-30, also records it; all narrators are trustworthy. Al-Hakim declared it sound (3/217), al-Dhahabi concurred, and Ibn Hajar judged it ḥasan in al-Isabah, 4/50.