5 – Abū Ṭalḥah al-Anṣārī, whose name is Zayd ibn Sahl ibn al-Aswad* (ʿ),
a Companion of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, a member of the Prophet’s maternal clan, one of the eminent veterans of Badr, and one of the twelve deputies chosen on the night of al-ʿAqaba.
His full lineage is: Zayd ibn Sahl ibn al-Aswad ibn Ḥarām ibn ʿAmr ibn Zayd Manāh ibn ʿAdī ibn ʿAmr ibn Mālik ibn al-Najjār al-Khazrajī, of the al-Najjār clan.
He transmitted a number of hadiths.
Among those who reported from him are his stepson Anas ibn Mālik, Zayd ibn Khālid al-Juhanī, Ibn ʿAbbās, and his son Abū Isḥāq ʿAbd Allah ibn Abī Ṭalḥah.
After the Prophet (1) ﷺ had passed away he fasted continuously, day after day.
He also held that there was no objection to a fasting person swallowing hailstones, saying, “They are neither food nor drink.” (2)
(*) Musnad Ahmad 4/28; Tabaqat Ibn Saad 3/504; Tabaqat Khalifa 88; Tarikh Khalifa 166; al-Tarikh al-Kabir 3/381; al-Maarif 166, 308; Tarikh al-Fasawi 1/300; al-Jarh wa-l-Tadil 3/564; Mujam al-Tabarani 5/91; al-Mustadrak 3/351-354; al-Istibsar 50; al-Istiaab 2/553; Ibn Asakir 6/305/1; Jami al-Usul 9/73-77; Usd al-Ghaba 2/289; Tahdhib al-Kamal 457; Tarikh al-Islam 2/119; al-Ibr 1/35; Majmaa al-Zawaid 9/312; Tahdhib al-Tahdhib 3/414-415; al-Isaba 4/55; Khulasat Tadhhib al-Kamal 128; Shadharat al-Dhahab 1/40; Tahdhib Tarikh Ibn Asakir 6/4-12.
(1) Al-Tabarani, al-Mu jam al-Kabir 5/93, from Hammad ibn Salama—Thabit—Anas.
(2) Ahmad, Musnad 3/279, through Ubayd Allah ibn Muadh—his father—Shu ba—from Qatada and Humayd—Anas: “We were blessed with hail while Abu Talha was fasting; he began to eat it. People asked, ‘Do you eat while fasting?’ He replied, ‘It is merely a blessing.’” The chain is sound, and the practice reflects Abu Talha’s personal reasoning. The majority of scholars disagree; al-Bazzar adds after citing the report in his Musnad, no. 1022: “We do not know of anyone who acted thus except Abu Talha.”