on the Day of Uḥud, while the Prophet ﷺ stood behind him, taking cover behind his body. Abū Ṭalḥah was a skilled archer: whenever he let fly an arrow, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would raise himself to see where it landed, and Abū Ṭalḥah would lift his own chest, saying, “Like this—may my father and mother be your ransom, O Messenger of Allah! Let no arrow strike you; my throat is a shield for yours.”

Abū Ṭalḥah would also step forward before the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, declaring, “I am strong-skinned, O Messenger of Allah. Send me on your errands and order me as you wish.”

Al-Bukhārī (2) relates: Abū Maʿmar told us, ʿAbd al-Wārith told us, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz told us, from Anas, who said:

“When the Day of Uḥud arrived, the people fled from the Prophet ﷺ, while Abū Ṭalḥah stood in front of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, shielding him with his own small shield. Abū Ṭalḥah was a powerful bowman; that day he snapped two or three bows. A man would pass by carrying a quiver of arrows and he would say, ‘Scatter them in front of Abū Ṭalḥah.’

“The Prophet ﷺ would stand up to look at the enemy, and Abū Ṭalḥah would say, ‘May my father and mother be your ransom—do not expose yourself, lest one of their arrows strike you; my throat is a shield for yours! I saw ʿĀʾishah daughter of Abū Bakr and Umm Sulaym with their garments gathered up, so that I could see the bangles on their ankles. They were running with water-skins on their backs, emptying them into the soldiers’ mouths, then hurrying back to refill them, and returning again to pour the water into their mouths. The sword slipped from Abū Ṭalḥah’s hand two or three times that day.”

Al-Bukhārī (3) also said: Khalīfah told me, “Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ told us, Saʿīd told us, from Qatādah, from Anas, from Abū Ṭalḥah, who said:

‘I was among those whom drowsiness overcame on the Day of Uḥud, until my sword fell from my hand again and again—it would drop and I would pick it up, then drop and I would pick it up.’”

Al-Bukhārī recorded this in a decisive—but muʿallaq—form, and it is corroborated by the verse:

“Then, after the distress, He sent down upon you tranquillity—drowsiness overtaking a party of you—while another party was anxious about themselves, thinking of Allah other than the truth, the thought of ignorance. They were saying, ‘Is anything up to us in this matter?’ Say, ‘Indeed, the matter belongs entirely to Allah.’ They conceal within themselves what they do not show to you; they say, ‘If anything had been up to us, none of us would have been killed here.’ Say, ‘Even if you had been in your houses, those for whom killing had been decreed would have come forth to their places of death—so that Allah might test what is in your breasts and purge what is in your hearts; and Allah is Knowing of what is within breasts.’ Indeed, those of you who turned away on the day the two hosts met—it was Satan who caused them to slip because of what they had earned. Yet Allah has pardoned them; surely Allah is All-Forgiving, Forbearing.” (Āl ʿImrān 3:154–155)

Al-Bukhārī (4) further reports: ʿAbdān related to us, Abū Ḥamzah related to us, from ʿUthmān ibn Mawhab, who said:

“A man came on pilgrimage to the House and saw some people seated. He asked, ‘Who are these sitting here?’ They replied, ‘They are Quraysh.’ He asked, ‘Who is that elder?’ They said, ‘Ibn ʿUmar.’ So he approached him and said, ‘I am going to ask you something—will you tell me?’ Ibn ʿUmar replied, ‘I adjure you by the sanctity of this House: do you know that ʿUthmān ibn—’”

(Here the narration breaks off.)