In al-Bukhārī’s Ṣaḥīḥ (1) Abū al-Dardāʾ relates: “We were with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on a journey in intense heat, and none of us was fasting except the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rawāḥah.”

Ibn Rawāḥah was counted among the celebrated poet-Companions. Al-Bukhārī (2) also transmits several of his lines in praise of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ (3):

Among us stands the Messenger of God, reciting His Book
when the well-known light of dawn splits the sky;
He spends the night with his side far from his bedding
while the idolaters lie heavy upon their couches;
He came with guidance after blindness, and our hearts
are certain that whatever he proclaims will surely come to pass.

Al-Bukhārī (4) further reports, on the authority of al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr, that ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rawāḥah once lost consciousness. His sister ʿAmrah began to weep, crying, “O my mountain of support!” and lamenting him with other words. When he revived he said, “Every word you uttered was echoed to me: ‘You are indeed as she says.’”

Another narration from al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr conveys the same incident and adds that, when Ibn Rawāḥah later died, she did not weep for him.

We have already quoted the elegy composed for him by Ḥassān ibn Thābit, along with others. A Muslim poet who returned from Muʾtah recited:

Sorrow enough that I returned, while Jaʿfar,
Zayd, and ʿAbd Allāh lie buried in the earth.
They fulfilled their vows when they set out upon their way,
while I was left behind to face affliction with the rest.

God willing, the remainder of the elegies for these three commanders, composed by Ḥassān ibn Thābit and Kaʿb ibn Mālik—may Allah be pleased with them both—will be cited in due course.

Section: Those who were martyred at Muʾtah from among the Muslims (5)

From the Emigrants: Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib; their freedman Zayd ibn Ḥārithah al-Kalbī; and Masʿūd ibn al-Aswad ibn