he said, “Messenger of Allah, I missed the first battle in which you fought the polytheists. Should Allah grant me another encounter with them, He will surely see what I will do.” When the Day of Uhud arrived and the Muslims retreated, he declared, “O Allah, I seek Your pardon for what these—meaning his fellow Muslims—have done, and I disavow what those—meaning the polytheists—have done.” He then pressed forward until he met Saʿd ibn Muʿādh. He cried out, “O Saʿd ibn Muʿādh! Paradise—by the Lord of al-Naḍr! I can already smell its fragrance coming from beyond Uhud!” Saʿd later said, “Messenger of Allah, I was unable to do what he did!” Anas adds: “We found on him some eighty-odd (1) wounds—struck by sword, stabbed by spear, or shot by arrow. He had been killed and mutilated by the polytheists, and no one recognized him save his sister, who knew him by his fingertips (2). We used to think—or assume—that the following verse was revealed about him and those like him: ‘Among the believers are men who have been true to the covenant they made with Allah; some of them have fulfilled their vow (3)…’ (Qur’an 33:23) to the end of the verse.” Agreed upon, and it has already been cited in the chapter on striving in the path of Allah.

1326 – Samurah, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Tonight I saw two men who came to me. They took me up a tree and brought me into a house that was the most beautiful and excellent I have ever seen. They said, ‘This house is the abode of the martyrs.’” Narrated by al-Bukhari. It forms part of a longer hadith containing various points of knowledge that will appear, if Allah wills, in the chapter on the prohibition of lying.

1327 – Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, related that Umm al-Rubayʿ bint al-Barāʾ, the mother of Ḥārithah ibn Surāqah, came to the Prophet ﷺ and said, “Messenger of Allah, tell me about Ḥārithah—he was killed on the day of Badr. If he is in Paradise, I will show patience; if it is otherwise, I will exhaust myself in weeping over him.” He replied, “O Umm Ḥārithah, there are many gardens in Paradise, and your son has reached al-Firdaws al-Aʿlā, the Highest Paradise.” Narrated by al-Bukhari.