177 — Ahmad ibn Jamīl narrated to us. He said: Abd Allah narrated to us. He said: Hammād ibn Zayd narrated to us, from Abd Allah ibn al-Mukhtār, from Āsim ibn Bahdala, from Abū Wā’il—although Hammād later became uncertain about Abū Wā’il—who said:

When death drew near to Khālid ibn al-Walīd, he said: “I sought to be slain wherever death was most likely to be found, yet nothing was decreed for me but to die in my bed. After the testimony that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah, no deed of mine gives me greater hope than a night I spent sheltering behind my shield while the sky drenched me, as we waited for dawn so that we might raid the disbelievers.”

Then he said: “When I die, take my arms and my horse and set them aside as equipment in the cause of Allah, Mighty and Majestic is He.”