Al-Wāqidī (1) relates: ʿAbd al-Jabbār ibn ʿUmārah ibn Ghaziyyah narrated to me from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Bakr ibn ʿAmr ibn Ḥazm, who said:

When the armies met at Muʾtah, the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—sat upon the pulpit. Allah lifted the veil between him and Syria so that he could watch their battlefield, and he said:

“Zayd ibn Ḥārithah has taken up the banner. Satan then approached him, making life dear to him, death hateful to him, and adorning the world in his eyes. Zayd said, ‘Now—when faith is firmly rooted in the hearts of the believers—you entice me with the world?’ He pressed forward until he was martyred.”

The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—performed the funeral prayer for him and said, “Seek forgiveness for him, for he has entered Paradise while hastening.”

Al-Wāqidī (2) also said: Muḥammad ibn Ṣāliḥ narrated to me from ʿĀṣim ibn ʿUmar ibn Qatādah that the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said:

“When Zayd was killed, Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib took the banner. Satan approached him, making life beloved to him, death hateful to him, and tempting him with the world. Jaʿfar said, ‘Now—when faith is firmly planted in the hearts of the believers—you promise me the world?’ He then advanced until he was martyred.”

The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—performed the funeral prayer for him and then said, “Seek forgiveness for your brother, for he is a martyr; he has entered Paradise and is flying therein with two wings of ruby wherever he wishes.”

He continued, “ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rawāḥah then took the banner, was martyred, and entered Paradise sideways.” This distressed the Anṣār, so they asked, “O Messenger of Allah, what does ‘sideways’ mean?” He replied, “When the wounds struck him he faltered; he reproached himself, steeled his resolve, and was martyred—so he entered Paradise.” His people were thus consoled.

Al-Wāqidī (3) further said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ḥārith ibn al-Fuḍayl narrated to me from his father, who said: When Khālid ibn al-Walīd took up the banner, the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said, “Now the furnace is ablaze!”

Al-Wāqidī (4) also said: al-ʿAṭṭāf ibn Khālid narrated to me: When Ibn Rawāḥah was killed toward evening, Khālid ibn al-Walīd spent the night with the army. At dawn he advanced, having placed his rear guard at the front, his vanguard at the rear, and his right wing on the left.

The enemy failed to recognize the banners and formations they had known and exclaimed, “Reinforcements have reached them!” Terror seized them, and they fled in disarray. They were then cut down in a massacre the like of which no people had ever suffered.

This accords with what Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah—may Allah have mercy on him—records in his Maghāzī. After the ʿUmrah of Ḥudaybiyah he writes: The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—returned to Madinah and remained there for six months. He then dispatched an army to Muʾtah, appointing Zayd ibn Ḥārithah as their commander and saying, “If he is killed, then Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib will lead; if Jaʿfar is killed, then ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rawāḥah will lead.”

They set out until they encountered Ibn Abī Sabrah al-Ghassānī at Muʾtah, where large forces of Christian Arabs and Romans—among them Tanūkh and Bahraʾ—had assembled. Ibn Abī Sabrah barricaded himself in the fortress against the Muslims for three days; then he came out and they met in battle