Then the Prophet ﷺ said, “By Him who has honored (1) the face of Muhammad, I shall surely give it to a man who will never turn his back.” ʿAlī (2) then came forward, departed, and Allah granted conquest of Khaybar and Fadak at his hands; he returned with their ʿajwah dates and their qadīd (dried meat).

Abū Yaʿlā (3) also narrated it from Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad, from Isrāʾīl, and in his wording he says: “Al-Zubayr came and said, ‘I will take it.’ The Prophet replied, ‘Go!’ Then another man came and he said, ‘Go!’—and he mentioned the rest. Aḥmad alone transmitted this version.

The narration of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (may Allah be pleased with him)

Imām Aḥmad (4) said: Wakiʿ narrated to us, from Ibn Abī Laylā, from al-Minhāl, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Laylā, who said: My father used to spend the evening in conversation (5) with ʿAlī—and [ʿAlī] (6) would wear summer clothes in winter and winter clothes in summer. People said to my father, “Why do you not ask him about that?” So he did, and ʿAlī replied: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent for me while my eyes were inflamed on the day of Khaybar. I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, my eyes are inflamed.’ He spat into my eyes and prayed: ‘O Allah, remove from him heat and cold.’ Since that day I have never felt heat nor cold. He also said, ‘I will certainly give the banner to a man who loves Allah and His Messenger and whom Allah and His Messenger love, one who is no coward.’ The Companions of the Prophet ﷺ craned their necks for it, and he handed it to me.” Aḥmad alone relates this version.

More than one transmitter has narrated it from Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Laylā, from his father, from ʿAlī, at greater length.

Abū Yaʿlā (7) said: Zuhayr narrated to us; Jarīr narrated to us, from Mughīrah, from Umm Mūsā. She said: I heard ʿAlī say, “Since the Messenger of Allah ﷺ wiped my face and spat into my eyes on the day of Khaybar and placed the banner in my hand, I have never suffered eye-ache or headache.”

The narration of Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ on the matter

It is established in the two Ṣaḥīḥs (8), through Shuʿbah, from Saʿd ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ, from his father, from Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to ʿAlī: “Are you not pleased to occupy toward me the station of Hārūn toward Mūsā—except that there is no prophet after me?”

Imām Aḥmad, Muslim, and al-Tirmidhī (9) said: Qutaybah ibn Saʿīd narrated to us; Ḥātim ibn Ismāʿīl narrated to us, from