90 — ʿAbd Allāh narrated to us: Ibrāhīm ibn al-Hajjāj al-Nājī narrated to us: ʿAbd al-Wāhid ibn Ziyād narrated to us: Sadaqah ibn al-Muthannā al-Nakhaʿī narrated to us, saying: My grandfather Riyāh ibn al-Hārith narrated to me:

We were ⦗121⦘ in the mosque with al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah among a large gathering. Saʿīd ibn Zayd ibn ʿAmr ibn Nufayl arrived, and al-Mughīrah made room for him, saying, “Here.” He sat beside him on the couch. Then a young man from Kufa named Qays ibn ʿAlqamah came, faced al-Mughīrah, and began heaping abuse.

Saʿīd ibn Zayd asked, “Whom is this man insulting?”

Al-Mughīrah replied, “He is insulting ʿAlī.”

Saʿīd said, “Woe to you, Mughīrah! Am I to see the Companions of Allah’s Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, insulted in your presence while you do nothing to stop it? I will not attribute to him something he did not say, lest he question me about it on the Day of Resurrection. I heard him say:

‘A lie attributed to me is not like a lie attributed to anyone else. Whoever deliberately lies about me, let him take his seat in the Fire. Abū Bakr will be in Paradise; ʿUmar will be in Paradise; ʿAlī will be in Paradise; ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān will be in Paradise; ʿAbd al-Rahmān ibn ʿAwf and Saʿd ibn Mālik will be in Paradise; al-Zubayr will be in Paradise; and Talhah will be in Paradise.’

“And there is a ninth Muslim whom I could name if I wished.”

The narrator said: The people clamoured, saying, “Companion of Allah’s Messenger, tell us who the ninth Muslim is!” They implored him to tell them.

He replied, “Had you not implored me, I would not have told you. I am the ninth believer, and Allah’s Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, completes the ten.”

Then he said, “By Allah, a single stand a man took, or an occasion he witnessed, alongside Allah’s Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, in which his face became covered with dust, is better than a lifetime of worship by any one of you.”