ʿĀʾishah said—concerning the Makhzumi woman who had stolen—that the people remarked: “No one would dare address the Messenger of Allah about her except Usāmah, the beloved of the Messenger of Allah.” (1)
Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah and others report, through Sālim, from Ibn ʿUmar, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “The dearest of people to me is Usāmah, apart from Fāṭimah—and none besides her.” (2)
Zayd ibn Aslam relates, on the authority of his father: ʿUmar allotted Usāmah a stipend of three thousand five hundred, and he allotted his own son ʿAbdullāh three thousand. ʿAbdullāh asked, “Why have you preferred him to me? By Allah, he has never outstripped me in any campaign!” ʿUmar answered, “His father was dearer to the Messenger of Allah than your father, and he himself is dearer to the Messenger of Allah than you. I therefore gave precedence to the Messenger of Allah’s love over my own.” (3) Al-Tirmidhī graded this report ḥasan.
Ibn ʿUmar said: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ placed Usāmah in command, and the people found fault with his leadership, so he said:”
(1) Reported by al-Bukhari, Sahih, 6/377 (Book of the Prophets) and 12/77 (Book of Inheritance); Muslim, Sahih, no. 1688 (Book of Hudud); al-Tirmidhi, Sunan, no. 1430; Abu Dawud, Sunan, no. 4373; al-Darimi, Sunan, 2/173; Ibn Majah, Sunan, no. 2547; al-Nasa’i, Sunan, 8/73; and Ibn Saʿd, Tabaqat, 4/69–70, all through the chain of al-Layth → Ibn Shihab → ʿUrwa → ʿAʾisha. The report relates that Quraysh were troubled by the case of a woman of Banu Makhzum who had stolen and asked, “Who will speak to the Messenger of Allah about her?” They answered, “No one would dare except Usama, the beloved of the Messenger of Allah.” When Usama interceded, the Prophet said, “Are you interceding concerning one of the hudud of Allah?” He then addressed the people: “O people, those before you perished because, when a noble person stole, they let him go, but when a weak person stole, they carried out the punishment. By Allah, were Fatima the daughter of Muhammad to steal, I would cut off her hand.”
(2) All its transmitters are reliable. It is also narrated by al-Tabarani, no. 372, and by al-Hakim, 3/596, through several routes from Hammad ibn Salama with this chain; al-Hakim declared it authentic and al-Dhahabi concurred. Al-Haythami cites it in Majmaʿ al-zawaʾid, 9/286, attributing it to Abu Yaʿla and noting that its narrators are those of the two Sahihs. Its wording there is: “Indeed, he was the most beloved of all people to him,” and Ibn ʿUmar would say: “Except for Fatima.”
(3) Reported by al-Tirmidhi, no. 3813, with a weak chain; see also Ibn Saʿd, Tabaqat, 4/70.