It is likewise transmitted through other routes from al-Zuhrī. Al-Tirmidhī also recorded it through Maʿmar from al-Zuhrī and declared it “ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ.”(1)

Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī said: “Ṣalt ibn Dīnār narrated to us; ʿUqbah ibn Ṣuhbān and Abū Rajāʾ al-ʿAṭāridī narrated to us, saying: ‘We heard al-Zubayr reciting the verse, ﴿And beware of a trial that will not strike only those among you who have done wrong﴾ (al-Anfāl 8:25). He then said, “I have recited this verse for a long time and never thought I was among its referents, yet this morning we find ourselves included among them.”’(2)

This chain is weak, but the report is also found through another path. Imām Aḥmad said: “Aswad ibn ʿĀmir narrated to us; Jarīr narrated to us, saying: ‘I heard al-Ḥasan relate that al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām said: “This verse was revealed while we were many in the company of the Prophet ﷺ— ﴿And beware of a trial that will not strike only those among you who have done wrong﴾ (al-Anfāl 8:25). We kept asking one another, ‘What is this trial?’ and we had no inkling it would fall where it eventually did.’”(3)

Al-Nasāʾī narrated it as well from Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm, from Ibn Mahdī, from Jarīr ibn Ḥāzim, with the same wording.(4)

Al-Zubayr was killed in Wādī al-Sibāʿ on his way back from the fighting on the Day of the Camel, as we shall describe in its proper place, Allah willing.

Abū Dāwūd al-Sijistānī, in his Sunan, said: “Musaddad narrated to us; Abū al-Aḥwaṣ—Salām ibn Sulaym—narrated to us, from Manṣūr, from Hilāl ibn Yasāf, from Saʿīd ibn Zayd, who said: ‘We were with the Prophet ﷺ when he mentioned a tribulation and spoke of its gravity. We said, “O Messenger of Allah, should it overtake us it will surely destroy us.” He replied, ‘No. What will suffice for you is killing.’”(5) Saʿīd added, “I later saw my brethren slain.” This wording is unique to Abū Dāwūd.

Abū Dāwūd al-Sijistānī also said: “Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī narrated to us; Yazīd narrated to us; Hishām informed us, from Muḥammad, who said: Ḥudhayfah said, ‘There is no one I fear tribulation may overtake except that I worry for him—apart from Muḥammad ibn Maslamah, for I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, ‘Tribulation will not harm you.’” This chain is broken.(6)

Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī further said: “Shuʿbah narrated to us, from Ashʿath ibn Abī al-Shaʿthāʾ: I heard Abū Burdah relate from Thaʿlabah ibn Abī Ḍubyʿah,(7) who said: ‘I heard Ḥudhayfah say, “I know a man whom tribulation will not harm.” We then came to Madinah and found…’”