Banū Anmār. He then related the account of the man who was wearing two thread-bare garments while two fresh ones lay in his saddlebag,(1) so the Messenger of Allah ﷺ ordered him to put them on. After he had done so and turned away, the Prophet said, “What is the matter with him? May Allah strike his neck!”(2) The man replied, “For the cause of Allah.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ repeated, “For the cause of Allah,” and the man was eventually killed in the cause of Allah.(3)

Many other reports of this kind exist.

It is also firmly established in sound ḥadīths—transmitted through multiple chains from several Companions, giving certain knowledge, as we shall soon quote in the chapter on his ﷺ virtues—that he said: “O Allah, if I have insulted, flogged, or cursed anyone who was not deserving, then make that a means by which he draws nearer to You on the Day of Resurrection.”

We have already cited, at the outset of the Prophetic mission, the ḥadīth of Ibn Masʿūd concerning his ﷺ supplication against those seven men—one of whom was Abū Jahl ibn Hishām and his companions—when they placed the intestines(4) of a slaughtered camel upon his blessed back, and his daughter Fāṭimah removed them. When he finished, he said: “O Allah, deal with Quraysh! O Allah, deal with Abū Jahl ibn Hishām, Shaybah ibn Rabīʿah, ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah, and al-Walīd ibn ʿUtbah,” and he named the remainder of the seven. Ibn Masʿūd said, “By Him who sent him with the truth, I saw them lying dead in the pit(5)—the well of Badr.”(6) … The ḥadīth is agreed upon.

Another ḥadīth: Imām Aḥmad(7) said, “Hāshim narrated to me; Sulaymān—meaning Ibn al-Mughīrah—narrated to us, from Thābit, from Anas ibn Mālik, who said:

‘Among us was a man from Banū al-Najjār who had memorised Sūrat al-Baqarah and Āl ʿImrān, and he used to write for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He later fled until he joined the People of the Scripture. They elevated him, saying, “This man used to write for Muḥammad,” and they were impressed by him. Yet it was not long before Allah snapped his neck while he was among them. They dug a grave for him and buried him, but by morning the earth had thrown him back onto its surface. They dug again and buried him, and the earth cast him out once more the following morning, so they left him lying exposed.’”