Ibn Saʿd said: Sahl ibn Ḥunayf ibn Wahib ibn ʿUkaim ibn Thaʿlaba ibn ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith ibn Majdaʿa ibn ʿAmr ibn Ḥanash ibn ʿAwf ibn ʿAmr ibn ʿAwf—known by the kunyas Abū Saʿd and Abū ʿAbd Allāh.
Among his children were Abū Umāma Asʿad, ʿUthmān, and Saʿd, and his descendants are still found today in Medina and Baghdad.
They relate that the Prophet ﷺ established the bond of brotherhood between Sahl and ʿAlī.
Sahl was present at Badr, stood his ground on the Day of Uhud, pledged allegiance unto death, and kept shielding the Messenger of Allah with a shower of arrows.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Keep handing arrows to Sahl, for he is indeed Sahl.” (1)
Al-Zuhrī said: The Messenger of Allah did not give any share of the property of Banū al-Naḍīr to any of the Anṣār except Sahl ibn Ḥunayf and Abū Dujāna, for they were both poor.
Al-Aʿmash narrated—from Yazīd ibn Ziyād, a Medinan—from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Maʿqil, who said:
“Throughout his entire rule, ʿAlī pronounced four takbīrs over every funeral, except for Sahl ibn Ḥunayf; over him he pronounced five, then turned to the people and said, ‘He was a veteran of Badr.’” (2)
(1) Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt, vol. 3, p. 471. The verb yandah means “to throw or shoot (arrows),” while nabilū means “they handed him the arrows so that he could shoot.”
(2) Reported by Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt, vol. 3, p. 473, through the chain of Abū Muʿāwiya al-Ḍarīr and a narrator identified there as Yazīd b. Ziyād al-Madani. Although this Yazīd is listed as trustworthy in Tahdhīb al-kamāl, he is not known to have transmitted from al-Aʿmash or to have studied under ʿAbd Allāh b. Maʿqil. It is therefore likely that al-Ṭabaqāt contains a copyist’s error and that the correct name is Yazīd b. Abī Ziyād. Indeed, Ibn Abī Shayba (vol. 3, p. 301) records the hadith with the chain Abū Muʿāwiya → al-Aʿmash → Yazīd b. Abī Ziyād → ʿAbd Allāh b. Maʿqil, noting that “he pronounced the takbīr six times.” ʿAbd al-Razzāq, al-Muṣannaf, no. 6399, likewise transmits it through Ibn ʿUyayna from Yazīd b. Abī Ziyād: “I heard ʿAbd Allāh b. Maʿqil say: ʿAlī prayed over Sahl b. Ḥunayf and pronounced the takbīr six times.” This Yazīd b. Abī Ziyād is the Hāshimī client from Kūfa. Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar states in al-Taqrīb that he is “weak; in old age his memory changed and he needed prompting.” Al-Ṭaḥāwī also records the report (vol. 1, p. 287).