Ibn Isḥāq relates—on the authority of a group that includes ʿUrwah, al-Zuhrī, ʿĀṣim ibn ʿUmar, and others—that they said:

“The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—was in the ʿarīsh (the reed shelter that served as the command post) together with Abū Bakr; no one else was with them. By this time the two forces had drawn so close that each could almost reach the other.

Thereupon the Messenger of Allah began beseeching his Lord to fulfill the victory He had promised him, saying, ‘O Allah, if this small band is annihilated, You will no longer be worshipped (on earth).’

Meanwhile Abū Bakr kept repeating, ‘After all this pleading with your Lord, O Messenger of Allah, He will surely carry out the victory He promised you.’

Then the Messenger of Allah nodded into a brief slumber