ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Rāfiʿ, on the authority of his grandmother, related that Rāfiʿ ibn Khadīj was shot—he said, “I do not know which of the two narrators said so—either on the Day of Uḥud or on the Day of Ḥunayn”—by an arrow that lodged in his upper chest. (1)
He came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said, “Messenger of Allah, shall I pull out the arrow?”
The Prophet ﷺ replied, “O Rāfiʿ! If you wish I will take out both the arrow and its iron head, (2) and if you wish I will remove only the shaft, leave the head in place, and testify for you on the Day of Resurrection that you are a martyr.”
He said, “Messenger of Allah, remove the shaft, leave the head, and testify for me on the Day of Resurrection that I am a martyr.” (3)
He lived on until the caliphate of Muʿāwiyah; then the wound reopened and he died after the ʿAṣr prayer.
Thus this report places his death in Muʿāwiyah’s rule, whereas al-Wāqidī (4) and others say he died in 63 AH, and it has also been said: in 74 AH. Muʿāwiyah himself, unanimously, died in 60 AH; Allah knows best.
His ﷺ foretelling of the trials that would befall the Banū Hāshim after his death and other matters
Al-Bukhārī said: Muḥammad ibn Kathīr narrated to us; Sufyān related to us, from al-Aʿmash, from Zayd ibn Wahb, from Ibn Masʿūd, from the Prophet ﷺ, who said:
“There will be favouritism, and matters you will find objectionable.”
They asked, “O Messenger of Allah, what do you command us to do?”
He replied, “Discharge the rights that are upon you, and ask Allah for the rights that are yours.” (5)
Al-Bukhārī also said: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥīm narrated to us; Abū Maʿmar Ismāʿīl ibn Ibrāhīm informed us; Abū Usāmah narrated to us; Shuʿbah narrated to us, from Abū al-Tayyāḥ, from Abū Zurʿah, from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“The ruin of the people will come at the hands of this clan of Quraysh.”
They asked, “What do you command us, O Messenger of Allah?”
He said, “If only the people would keep away from them.” (6)
Muslim likewise narrated it from Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah, from Abū Usāmah. (7)