I was the first to rally on the Day of Uḥud. I saw a man fighting in front of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, shielding him—so I thought—and I exclaimed, “Let it be Ṭalḥah!” When he drew ahead of me I said, “If only he were a man from my own clan, that would please me even more.” Between me and the eastern side stood a man I did not recognize; though I was closer to the Messenger of Allah than he was, he was striding with a speed I could not match. Suddenly I realized it was Abū ʿUbaydah.

We reached the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and found that one of his incisors had been broken, his face gashed, and two links of the chain-mail hood were embedded in his cheek. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Look to your companion”—meaning Ṭalḥah, who was bleeding profusely. We, however, did not heed his request. I moved to pull the links from his face, but Abū ʿUbaydah said, “I adjure you by the right you owe me—leave this to me.” He disliked using his hand lest he hurt the Prophet, so he gripped one of the links with his teeth, pulled it out, and one of his own incisors came away with the link. I started to do what he had done, but again he implored, “I adjure you by the right you owe me—leave this to me.” He repeated his first action, and his other incisor fell out with the second link. From then on Abū ʿUbaydah was considered one of the most handsome of men despite the gap in his teeth.

When we had tended to the Prophet ﷺ, we went to Ṭalḥah, who was lying in one of the ravines. We found between seventy-odd wounds on him—more or fewer—made by thrusts, arrows, and sword-blows, and one of his fingers had been severed. We did what we could to care for him as well.