and he is no deserter.”

Salamah said: The Messenger of Allah then summoned ʿAlī, whose eyes were inflamed; he spat into his eyes and said, “Take this banner and advance with it until Allah grants you victory.”

Salamah continued: By Allah, he set off at a brisk trot and we hurried behind him until he planted his standard in a pile of stones beneath the fortress. A Jew looked down at him from the top of the stronghold and asked, “Who are you?” He replied, “ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib.” The Jew said, “You have prevailed, by the One who sent down the Torah upon Moses!” ʿAlī did not return until Allah granted victory at his hands.

This same report was transmitted by ʿIkrimah ibn ʿAmmār, from ʿAṭāʾ, the client of al-Sāʾib, from Salamah ibn al-Akwaʿ, and in it he relates that Salamah was the one who led ʿAlī—his eyes still inflamed—until the Messenger of Allah spat in them and they were healed.

[Report of Buraydah ibn al-Ḥuṣayb]

Imām Aḥmad (1) said: Zayd ibn al-Ḥabbāb narrated to us; al-Ḥusayn ibn Wāqid narrated to us; ʿAbd Allah ibn Buraydah told me, from his father Buraydah ibn al-Ḥuṣayb, who said:

“We besieged Khaybar, and Abū Bakr took the banner and advanced but came back with no conquest. The next day ʿUmar (2) took it; he too went forward and returned without victory. The people were suffering hardship and fatigue, so the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, ‘Tomorrow I shall hand the banner (3) to a man whom Allah and His Messenger love; he will not return until Allah grants him victory.’ We went to sleep cheerful, certain that victory would come the next day.

“When morning came, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ prayed the dawn prayer, then rose and called for the banner while the people were in their ranks. He summoned ʿAlī, whose eyes were inflamed; he spat into his eyes and placed the banner in his hand, and Allah granted victory through him.”

Buraydah added: “I was among those who stretched their necks hoping for it.”

Al-Nasāʾī (4) relates this through al-Ḥusayn ibn Wāqid in a longer version. Aḥmad (5) also transmitted it—from Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar and Rūḥ, both from ʿAwf, from Maymūn Abū ʿAbd Allah al-Kurdī, from ʿAbd Allah ibn Buraydah, from his father—in similar terms, and al-Nasāʾī (6) produced it through Bundār and Ghundar, including the verses of poetry.

[Report of ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar]

Hushaym narrated it: from al-ʿAwām ibn Ḥawshab, from Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit, from Ibn ʿUmar, giving the same account as Buraydah’s.

Kathīr al-Nawāʾ likewise transmitted it: from Jumayʿ ibn ʿUmayr (7), from Ibn ʿUmar in similar fashion, and in it ʿAlī says: “From that day on my eyes never suffered inflammation.”

Imām Aḥmad also recorded it: from Wakīʿ, from Hishām ibn Saʿd, from ʿUmar ibn Asīd, from Ibn ʿUmar, as will be mentioned later.