and he declared:

“Tonight you have slain a man on a night in which the Qur’an was revealed, on which Jesus son of Mary was taken up, and on which Joshua son of Nun, the attendant of Moses, was killed. By Allah, no one before him ever out-stripped him, and no one who comes after will ever catch up to him. By Allah, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would send him out at the head of a detachment with Gabriel on his right and Michael on his left. By Allah, he left neither gold nor silver—nothing but eight hundred, or seven hundred, set aside to purchase a servant.”⦗1⦘

This report is exceedingly strange and its text is problematic; Allah knows best.

Abū Yaʿlā likewise recorded it⦗2⦘—from Ibrāhīm ibn al-Ḥajjāj, from Sukayn—with the same wording.

Imam Aḥmad said⦗3⦘: “Wakīʿ related to us, from Sharīk, from Abū Isḥāq, from Hubayrah, who said:

‘Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī addressed us, saying: Yesterday a man departed from you whom the first did not surpass in knowledge, nor will the last attain to him. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to send him forth with the standard while Gabriel was on his right and Michael on his left; he would not return until victory was granted him.’”

It was also narrated by Zayd al-ʿAmmī and Shuʿayb ibn Khālid⦗4⦘ from Abū Isḥāq with the same wording, adding: “He left only seven hundred—set aside to buy a servant.”

Imam Aḥmad further said⦗5⦘: “Ḥajjāj related to us; Sharīk related to us, from ʿĀṣim ibn Kulayb⦗6⦘, from Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Qurazī, that ʿAlī said:

‘I recall myself with the Messenger of Allah while I was tying a stone to my belly from hunger, and today my charitable donations amount to forty thousand.’”

It is also reported⦗7⦘—from Aswad, from Sharīk—with the wording: “My charity now reaches forty thousand dinars.”

[Chapter Heading: A Mention of Some of the Virtues of the Commander of the Believers, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (may Allah be pleased with him)]

Among these virtues is that, of the ten who were promised Paradise, he is the one most closely related by blood to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He is ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib—[Abū Ṭālib’s given name was ʿAbd Manāf] ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib (whose name was Shaybah) ibn Hāshim (whose name was ʿAmr) ibn ʿAbd Manāf (whose name was al-Mughīrah) ibn Quṣayy (whose name was Zayd) ibn Kilāb ibn Murrah ibn Kaʿb ibn Luʾayy ibn Ghālib ibn Fihr ibn Mālik ibn al-Naḍr ibn Kinānah ibn Khuzaymah ibn Mudrikah ibn Ilyās ibn Muḍar ibn Nizār ibn Maʿdd ibn ʿAdnān—Abū al-Ḥasan al-Qurashī al-Hāshimī. Thus he is the cousin of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: [his father was the Prophet’s paternal uncle], and his mother was Fāṭimah bint Asad ibn Hāshim ibn ʿAbd Manāf.