with me without Allah granting me victory (1).
Ibn Wahb narrated—from ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Abi al-Zinad, from ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn al-Harith—who said that a reliable authority informed him:
On the day the Messenger of Allah ﷺ shaved his head, the people rushed to collect his hair, but Khālid reached his forelock before them and placed it in his cap (2).
Ibn Abi Khalid narrated—from Qays—that he heard Khālid say:
“On the day of Muʾtah nine swords snapped in my hand, and only a Yemeni blade held firm (3).”
Ibn ʿUyaynah narrated—from Ibn Abi Khalid, from the freedman of the family of Khālid ibn al-Walid:
Khālid said, “No night on which a beloved bride is brought to me is dearer than a bitterly cold, ice-laden night when I am with a raiding party that will meet the enemy at dawn (4).”
Yūnus ibn Abi Ishaq narrated—from al-ʿAyzar ibn Hurayth—that Khālid said:
“I do not know from which of my two days I would flee: the day on which Allah intends to grant me martyrdom, or the day on which He intends to grant me honour.”
Qays ibn Abi Ḥāzim said: I heard Khālid say, “Jihad has kept me many times from …”
(1) Al-Hakim records the report, 3/299; Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr cites it in al-Istiʿab, 2/111; and Ibn Ḥajar includes it in al-Isaba, 3/72, all through the chain of Hushaym. Al-Haythami, 9/349, attributes it to al-Tabarani and Abu Yaʿla and notes that both chains are composed of narrators found in the two Sahihs. Jaʿfar heard from several Companions, but it is uncertain whether he met Khalid. Ibn Ḥajar also ascribes the report to Abu Yaʿla in al-Matalib al-ʿAliya (no. 4045). Al-Busiri states that Abu Yaʿla transmits it with a sound isnad.
(2) All the transmitters in its chain are trustworthy.
(3) Reported by al-Bukhari (nos. 4265–4266) in the Book of Military Expeditions, chapter “The Campaign of Muʾta in Greater Syria,” and by Ibn Saʿd, 7/2/120, through the route of Muhammad b. ʿUbayd al-Tanafisi from Ismaʿil b. Abi Khalid, with the same wording.
(4) Al-Haythami, Majmaʿ al-Zawaʾid, 9/350, transmits it on the authority of Qays, attributing it to Abu Yaʿla, and observes that its narrators are those of the Sahih. Ibn Ḥajar cites the same report in al-Matalib al-ʿAliya (no. 4039) from Qays b. Abi Hazim with the identical chain.