Mahfūz ibn ʿAlqamah narrated—through Ibn ʿĀʾidh—from Jubayr ibn Nufayr, who said:
“Abu Dharr and ʿAmr ibn ʿAbasah—each of them used to say, ‘I am one quarter of Islam.’ (1)

al-Wāqidī stated: “The man who carried the banner of Ghifār on the Day of Ḥunayn was Abu Dharr.”

He would also say, “I lagged behind during the Campaign of Tabūk because of the severe emaciation (2) of my camel.”

Ibn Isḥāq reported: “Buraydah ibn Sufyān related to me, from Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī, from Ibn Masʿūd, who said:

When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ marched toward Tabūk, men kept dropping out one after another. Whenever someone failed to set off, the people said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, so-and-so has stayed behind.’ He would reply, ‘Leave him; if there is any good in him he will catch up with you, and if not, Allah has spared you his company.’

This continued until they said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, Abu Dharr has stayed back; his camel is holding him up.’

Abu Dharr’s camel kept faltering (3). When it delayed him too long, he took his belongings, slung them over his own back, and set out on foot after the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

A lookout observed him and exclaimed, ‘There is a man walking along the road!’

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, ‘Let that be Abu Dharr.’

When the people looked more closely they said, ‘By Allah, it is Abu Dharr!’

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then declared, ‘May Allah have mercy on Abu Dharr: he walks alone, he will die alone, and he will be resurrected alone.’”