his companions in prayer (1). Similarly, whenever he appointed a man as his deputy over a city—as he appointed Attāb ibn Asīd over Mecca, Uthmān ibn Abī al-Ās over Taif, Alī, Muādh, and Abū Mūsā over Yemen, and Abū Sufyān (2) [and] Amr ibn Hazm over Najrān—his deputy would lead the people in prayer, administer the prescribed penalties among them, and perform the other duties of a military commander.
Likewise (3), his successors after him did the same, as did the Umayyad rulers who followed them and some of the Abbasids. This was because prayer and jihad are the most important affairs of the religion. For this reason, most of the hadiths narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) concern prayer and jihad. When he visited someone who was ill, he would say, “O Allah, heal Your servant, so that he may attend a prayer for Your sake and deal a blow to an enemy for Your sake” (4).
(1) (ي، ز، ب، ل): “He appoints him to lead the prayer.”
(2) The words “Abu Sufyān” occur only in the base manuscript. Several scholars have stated that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) died while Abu Sufyān was serving as his governor of Najrān, succeeding Amr ibn Hazm. Al-Wāqidī, however, said: “Our scholars reject this and maintain that Abu Sufyān was in Mecca when the Prophet died, while Amr ibn Hazm was then his governor in Najrān.” End quote. Ibn Hajar said: “This is not established.” See Abu Nuaym, *Ma'rifat al-Sahāba*, 3/42; Ibn al-Athīr, *Usd al-Ghāba*, 2/392; and Ibn Hajar, *al-Isāba fī Ma'rifat al-Sahāba*, 3/403.
(3) (ف، ز): “And so it was.”
(4) Recorded by Ahmad (6600), Abu Dāwūd (3107), Ibn Hibbān (2974), al-Hākim (1/344), and others, from Abd Allah ibn Amr (may Allah be pleased with them both). Ibn Hibbān authenticated the hadith, and al-Hākim said: “It is authentic according to Muslim’s criteria”; al-Dhahabī did not contest his assessment. However, its chain contains Huyayy ibn Abd Allah al-Ma'āfirī, from whom Muslim did not narrate and in whom there is some weakness. Ibn Adī said (2/450): “Most of his hadiths transmitted through this chain are not corroborated.”