450 – Jābir (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: “The Prophet ﷺ would place two of the martyrs of Uhud in a single shroud, then ask, ‘Which of them had memorised more of the Quran?’ and he would lower that one first into the grave. They were neither washed nor was the funeral prayer offered for them.” Reported by Bukhārī (1).

Vocabulary:
– qatlā: plural of qatīl, meaning a person who has been killed.
– Uhud: pronounced with two ḍammahs and in the genitive because of annexation; a well-known mountain to the north of Madinah—now one of its suburbs. The Battle of Uhud took place in Shawwāl of the third year after the Hijrah, during which seventy Companions were killed.

Lessons derived from the hadith:

1. It is forbidden to bury two or more people together in a single grave, for the Prophet ﷺ used to assign an individual grave to every deceased person, and this remained the constant practice of the Companions and those who followed them without dispute.

2. It is permissible to bury two or more in one grave when necessity demands it. Such necessity may occur when deaths are numerous—because of a widespread plague, a large number of casualties in battle, or when digging separate graves for each would entail undue hardship. In that case, the rule is relaxed, for necessities permit what is normally prohibited. Allah says, “So fear Allah as much as you are able” (al-Taghābun 64:16). This necessity was present at Uhud: the martyrs were many, the ground was hard, and the Companions were physically weakened after the fight.