ibn Abī Muʿayṭ; he also named a seventh man, but I did not retain it. By the One Who sent Muhammad with the truth, I later saw every one of those men he had named lying dead on the Day of Badr, after which they were dragged to the dry well—Badr’s well.

Zāʾidah narrated from ʿĀṣim, from Zirr, from ʿAbd Allāh who said: “The first to make their Islam public were seven: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, Abū Bakr, ʿAmmār, his mother Sumayyah, Ṣuhayb, Bilāl, and al-Miqdād. As for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, Allah protected him through his uncle Abū Ṭālib. As for Abū Bakr, Allah protected him through his clan. The others were seized by the idolaters, who dressed them in coats of iron mail and left them standing in the scorching sun. Every one of them eventually conceded to what the idolaters wanted—except Bilāl. He regarded his own life as insignificant for the sake of Allah, and his people likewise considered him of little worth. They turned him over to the boys, who would drag him through the valleys of Mecca while he kept saying: ‘One! One!’ ” A sound report.

Hishām al-Dastuwāʾī related from Abū l-Zubayr, from Jābir, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ passed by ʿAmmār and his family while they were being tortured and said, “Rejoice, O family of ʿAmmār, for your promised abode is Paradise.”

Al-Thawrī narrated from Manṣūr, from Mujāhid: “The first martyr in Islam was ʿAmmār’s mother, Sumayyah; Abū Jahl thrust a spear into her private part, killing her.”

Yūnus ibn Bukayr narrated from Hishām ibn ʿUrwah, from his father, that Abū Bakr manumitted seven people who were being tortured for Allah’s sake. Among them was Zinnīrah. She lost her sight—she was one of those being tortured for the sake of Allah upon embracing Islam, yet she refused to abandon her faith. The polytheists said, ‘Al-Lāt and al-ʿUzzā have taken her eyesight.’ She replied, ‘No, by Allah, it is not so!’ Thereupon Allah restored her vision.