and he said: “Tell me, Zayd, if your eyes (1) were to be taken away because of what has afflicted them, what would you do?”
I replied, “I would be patient and seek reward from Allah.”
He said, “If you do that, you will enter Paradise.”
In another wording: “Then you will meet Allah with no sin upon you.” (2)
In the Musnad of Abū Yaʿlā, through the route of Unaysa, it is related that her father, Zayd ibn Arqam, went blind after the Prophet’s death ﷺ, then Allah restored his sight. (3)
Abū al-Minhāl said: I asked al-Barāʾ about ṣarf (currency exchange), and he replied, “Ask Zayd ibn Arqam; he is better and more knowledgeable than I am.”
Abū Isḥāq reported from Zayd ibn Arqam: “I was with the Prophet ﷺ on a campaign when I heard ʿAbd Allah ibn Ubayy ibn Salūl say, ‘Do not spend on those who are with the Messenger of Allah until they disperse from him; and if we return to Madinah, the one who is mightier will surely expel from it the one who is humiliated.’
“I conveyed this to my uncle, who went to the Prophet ﷺ and informed him. The Messenger of Allah then summoned me, so I told him what I had heard. He sent for ʿAbd Allah ibn Ubayy and his companions. They came and swore by Allah that they had said nothing of the sort, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ accepted his word.”
(1) The word reads “your two eyes” in the base manuscript; the correction follows the Musnad and the transmission of al-Tabarani.
(2) All the transmitters in this chain are trustworthy. Ahmad, 4/375, and al-Tabarani, no. 5052, record it through Yunus b. Abi Ishaq—from his father—from Zayd b. Arqam. Al-Tabarani also relates it under no. 5098 through Sufyan—from Jabir—from Khaythama—from Zayd b. Arqam; Jabir here is Jabir b. Yazid al-Juʿfi, who is weak. A third chain will be cited below. An abridged wording is found in Abu Dawud, 3102, and al-Hakim, 1/342, via Yunus b. Abi Ishaq—from his father—from Zayd b. Arqam: “The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, visited me when I was suffering from an eye ailment.” Al-Hakim declared it sound, and al-Dhahabi concurred.
(3) Al-Tabarani, no. 5126, transmits another route: Umayya b. Bistam—Muʿtamir b. Sulayman—Nabata bt. Burayd—from Hamada—from Anisa bt. Zayd b. Arqam—from her father, that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, entered upon Zayd b. Arqam to visit him during an illness and said: “There is no danger in this sickness of yours, but what about you when you live on after me and become blind?” Zayd replied, “I will seek my reward from Allah and remain patient.” The Prophet said, “Then you will enter Paradise without reckoning.” Zayd indeed went blind after the Prophet’s death, then Allah restored his sight, and he later passed away. Nabata, Hamada, and Anisa are all unknown transmitters.