Imām Abū Dāwūd states in his Sunan (1): “Al-Qaʿnabī narrated to us that Sulaymān ibn al-Mughīrah related to them, from Ḥumayd ibn Hilāl, from Hishām ibn ʿĀmir, who said:

‘The Anṣār came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on the day of Uḥud and said, “Wounds and fatigue have overtaken us; what do you command us to do?” He replied, “Dig graves that are wide, and place two or three men in a single grave (2).” It was asked, “Messenger of Allah, which of them should be put foremost?” He said, “The one who had memorized the most Qur’an.”’

He (Abū Dāwūd) also transmitted it (3) through the chain of al-Thawrī, from Ayyūb, from Ḥumayd ibn Hilāl, from Hishām ibn ʿĀmir with the same wording, adding: “and make them deep.”

Ibn Isḥāq (4) relates that some of the Muslims carried their dead to Madinah and buried them there. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then forbade that and said, “Bury them where they fell.”

Imām Aḥmad (5) reports: ʿAlī ibn Isḥāq narrated to us; ʿAbd Allah and ʿAttāb narrated to us; ʿAbd Allah narrated to us; ʿUmar ibn Salamah ibn Abī Yazīd al-Madīnī told me, saying: My father informed me that he heard Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allah say:

‘My father was martyred at Uḥud, so my sisters sent me (6) with a she-camel of theirs and said, “Go, bring back your father on this camel and bury him in the cemetery of Banū Salamah.” I went with some helpers. News of this reached the Prophet ﷺ while he was still at Uḥud; he summoned me and said, “By the One in whose hand is my soul, he shall not be buried except with his brothers.” Thus he was buried with his companions at Uḥud.’ This wording is unique to Aḥmad.

Imām Aḥmad also said (7): Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar narrated to us; Shuʿbah narrated to us, from al-Aswad ibn Qays, from Nubayḥ, from Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allah: ‘The slain at Uḥud were carried away from where they had fallen, and a crier of the Prophet ﷺ announced, “Return the dead to their resting places.”’

Abū Dāwūd and al-Nasāʾī (8) transmit it through the chain of al-Thawrī; al-Tirmidhī through that of Shuʿbah (9); and al-Nasāʾī likewise, together with Ibn Mājah (10), through the chain of Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah—all of them from al-Aswad ibn Qays with the same report.

Aḥmad further said (11): ʿAffān narrated to us; Abū ʿAwānah narrated to us; al-Aswad ibn Qays narrated to us, from Nubayḥ al-ʿAnazī (12), from Jābir ibn