—of the Banū ʿAbd al-Ashhal; and Abū al-Haytham ibn at-Tayyihān al-Balawī, an ally of the Banū ʿAbd al-Ashhal; and Saʿd ibn Khaythamah al-Awsī, of the clan of Banū Ghanm ibn Salm; and Saʿd ibn ar-Rabīʿ al-Khazrajī al-Ḥārithī, who was killed on the day of Uḥud; and ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rawāḥah ibn Thaʿlabah al-Khazrajī al-Ḥārithī, who was killed at Muʾtah (1); and ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr ibn Ḥarām—Abū Jābir as-Salamī—the naqīb of Banū Salamah; and Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah ibn Dulaym al-Khazrajī as-Sāʿidī, a chief and naqīb; and al-Mundhir ibn ʿAmr as-Sāʿidī, the naqīb, who was killed at Biʾr Maʿūnah; and al-Barāʾ ibn Maʿrūr al-Khazrajī as-Salamī; and ʿUbādah ibn aṣ-Ṣāmit al-Khazrajī, of the Qawāqilah (2); and Rāfiʿ ibn Mālik al-Khazrajī az-Zuraqī (3).
Shuʿbah narrated from Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān that his grandfather, Asʿad ibn Zurārah, was stricken with a strangling pain in his throat. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “I will certainly exert myself—or at the very least present my excuse—concerning Abū Umāmah.” He then cauterized him with his own hand, after which he died. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “A wretched death—as the Jews will say, ‘Why did he not ward it off from his companion?’ Yet I have no power, either for him or for myself, against Allah in the least.” (4)
(1) The printed edition is missing the passage that runs from the words “ahad …” to “qutila yawma.”
(2) Al-Qamus explains that al-Qawqal is the eponym of a sub-clan of the Ansar. Whenever a person sought their protection in Yathrib, they would tell him: “qawqil fi hadha al-jabal wa-qad aminta” – “climb this mountain and you are safe.” Al-Zabidi, citing Ibn Hisham, adds that when they granted asylum they gave the refugee an arrow, saying: “qawqil bihi haythu shiʾta” – “travel with it wherever you wish”; hence they were called al-Qawaqil.
(3) Related by Abu Dawud (1069) in Prayer, “Chapter: The Friday prayer in villages”; by al-Hakim, 1/281; and by al-Bayhaqi, 3/176. The chain is sound (hasan), for Ibn Ishaq explicitly states his hearing here and in the versions of al-Hakim and al-Bayhaqi, removing any suspicion of tadlis.
(4) Chain of transmission: sahih. Also recorded by Ibn Majah (3492) in Medicine, “Chapter: One who was cauterized,” and by Ibn Abd al-Barr, 5/469. Ahmad, 4/65 and 5/378, and Ibn Saʿd, 3/2/140, transmit it through the isnad: Zuhayr — Abu al-Zubayr — ʿAmr b. Shuʿayb — his father — from a Companion who said: “The Messenger of Allah cauterized Asʿad (or Saʿd) b. Zurara twice in his throat for the throat infection (al-dhibha) and said: ‘I will not leave in …’” – the wording ends here in the source.