I am a man who shields and is shielded—
for the sake of the Chosen, Unlettered Prophet.

Ibn Jarīr (1) relates that when Naufal blundered into the trench the Muslims pelted him with stones. He kept shouting, “People of Arabia, give me a death better than this!” ʿAlī then went down to him and killed him. The idolaters offered the Messenger of Allah ﷺ money for his corpse, but he refused to take anything and allowed them to retrieve the body. This report is unusual on two counts.

Al-Bayhaqī (2) transmitted—through Ḥammād ibn Zayd, from Hishām ibn ʿUrwah, from his father, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr—who said:
“On the Day of the Trench I was in the fortress with the women and children, and ʿUmar ibn Abī Salamah was with me. He would crouch down so I could climb onto his back and look out. I watched my father charging here and there; nothing arose but that he confronted it. When evening came he joined us in the stronghold. I said, ‘Father, I saw what you did today.’ He asked, ‘Did you really see me, my son?’ I replied, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘May my father and mother be ransomed for you.’ ”

Ibn Isḥāq (3) said: Abu Laylā ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sahl ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Sahl al-Anṣārī of the Banū Ḥārithah told me that ʿĀʾishah—the Mother of the Believers—was in the fortress of Banū Ḥārithah on the Day of the Trench; it was one of Medina’s most secure strongholds. Umm Saʿd ibn Muʿādh was with her. ʿĀʾishah said, “This was before the veil had been prescribed for us.”

She continued: “Saʿd passed by wearing a short coat of mail that left his entire arm exposed. Spear in hand, he was darting forward while reciting:
Linger but a moment—soon the clash is nigh;
Death holds no terror when the term draws nigh.

His mother called out, ‘Go on, my son; by Allah, you have been slow enough!’ I said to her, ‘O Umm Saʿd, by Allah, I wish Saʿd’s coat of mail were longer than it is.’ I feared for him at the very spot where the arrow later struck him: Saʿd ibn Muʿādh was hit by an arrow that severed his median vein.”

Ibn Isḥāq (4) said: ʿĀṣim ibn ʿUmar ibn Qatādah told me that he was shot by Ḥibbān ibn Qays ibn al-ʿArriqah of the Banū ʿĀmir ibn Luʾayy. When Ḥibbān struck him he cried, “Take that from me—I am the son of al-ʿArriqah!” Saʿd replied, “May Allah cause your face to wither in Hell! O Allah, if You have left any fighting against Quraysh, keep me alive for it, for there are no people I would rather fight than those who harmed Your Messenger, denied him, and expelled him. But if You have ended the war between us and them, let this wound be my martyrdom, and do not let me die until my eyes are cooled by what You decree for the Banū Qurayẓah.”