He likewise invoked (1) against Abū Saʿdah, Usāmah ibn Qatādah, when the latter bore false witness against him, asking that his life be prolonged, his poverty increased, and that he be exposed to temptations. Every part of that supplication came to pass, so that whenever the man was asked about his condition he would reply, “A tried and aged man—Saʿd’s prayer has overtaken me.” (2)

It is also established in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and elsewhere that the Prophet ﷺ prayed for al-Sāʾib ibn Yazīd and wiped his hand over the boy’s head (3). He lived on until the age of ninety-four, straight-backed and well-proportioned; the spot that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had touched never turned grey, and he retained full use of his senses and his strength (4).

Aḥmad recorded: Ḥaramī ibn ʿUmārah told us, ʿAzrah ibn Thābit told us, ʿIlbāʾ ibn Aḥmar told us, and Abū Zayd al-Anṣārī told me that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ once said to him, “Come closer to me.” He then placed his hand on my head and said, “O Allah, beautify him and make his beauty enduring.” The narrator relates: “He lived to be over one hundred years old, and in his beard there were only a few white hairs (5); his face remained open and unwrinkled until he died (6).”

Al-Suhaylī remarked that this chain of transmission is sound and uninterrupted. Al-Bayhaqī has collected many similar reports, which gladden the heart and fulfil one’s hopes.

Imām Aḥmad also said: ʿĀrim told us; Muʿtamir reported—and Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn said: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā narrated to us; Muʿtamir—meaning Ibn Sulaymān—reported: I heard my father relate from Abū al-ʿAlāʾ who said: “I was with Qatādah ibn Milḥān during the illness in which he died. A man passed behind the house, and I could see him reflected on Qatādah’s face. Qatādah said, ‘The Messenger of Allah ﷺ once wiped his face,’ and I seldom looked at him without seeing a sheen upon it, as though it had been anointed with oil (7).”