Al-Bukhārī (1) reports: “Al-Ṣalt ibn Muḥammad related to us; Abū Usāmah related to us, from Idrīs, from Ṭalḥah ibn Muṣarrif, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās on the verse, ‘And to every one We appointed mawālī’—he said: ‘heirs.’ As for the words, ‘And those with whom your oaths are contracted,’ when the Emigrants first came to Madinah a Muhājir would inherit an Anṣārī to the exclusion of the latter’s blood-kin, by virtue of the brotherhood the Prophet ﷺ had established between them. When the verse, ‘And to every one We appointed mawālī,’ was revealed, that ruling was abrogated. Then the command, ‘And those with whom your oaths are contracted—give them their share,’ came to mean aid, hospitality, and sincere counsel; the right of inheritance lapsed, though one might still make a bequest to his brother.”

Imām Aḥmad (2) said: “It was read to Sufyān: I heard ʿĀṣim narrate from Anas that the Prophet ﷺ forged a pact of alliance between the Emigrants and the Helpers in our house.” Sufyān remarked, “It is as though he were saying: he made them brothers.”

Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq (3) relates: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ joined his Companions from the Emigrants and the Helpers as brothers, declaring—according to what has reached us, and we seek refuge in Allah from attributing to him that which he did not say—‘Become brothers in Allah, two by two.’ He then took ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib by the hand and said, ‘This is my brother.’ Thus the Messenger of Allah ﷺ—master of the messengers, leader of the God-fearing, the envoy of the Lord of the worlds, without equal or peer among creation—was paired with ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib. Ḥamzah ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, the Lion of Allah and His Messenger and the Prophet’s uncle, was paired with Zayd ibn Ḥārithah, the Prophet’s freedman, to whom Ḥamzah bequeathed on the Day of Uḥud when he stood on the brink of death. Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib, the one endowed with two wings who flies in Paradise, was paired with Muʿādh ibn Jabal—though Ibn Hishām notes that Jaʿfar was then absent in Abyssinia.

Ibn Isḥāq continues: Abū Bakr was paired with Khārijah ibn Zayd al-Khazrajī; ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb with ʿItbān ibn Mālik; Abū ʿUbaydah with Saʿd ibn Muʿādh; ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf with Saʿd ibn al-Rabīʿ; al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām with Salamah ibn Salamah ibn Waqsh—though some say it was al-Zubayr and ʿAbd Allah ibn Masʿūd; ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān with Aws ibn Thābit ibn al-Mundhir al-Najjārī; Ṭalḥah ibn ʿUbayd Allah with Kaʿb ibn Mālik; Saʿīd ibn Zayd with Ubayy ibn Kaʿb; Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmair with Abū Ayyūb; Abū Ḥudhayfah ibn ʿUtbah with ʿAbbād ibn Bishr; and ʿAmmār with Ḥudhayfah ibn al-Yamān al-ʿAbsī, ally of Banū ʿAbd al-Ashhal—although others say ʿAmmār was paired with Thābit ibn Qays ibn Shamās.

I add: this chain (5) is transmitted through two routes.

He also said: “And Abū Dharr—Burayr ibn Junādah (6)—and al-Munḏir ibn ʿAmr …” (the narration continues).