1128 – ʿAbd Allah narrated to us; my father narrated to me; Siyyar narrated to us; Jaʿfar narrated to us; al-Jarīrī narrated to us, from one of his teachers, who said:

The Companions of the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace) were campaigning in Sijistān. The fighting around the fortress of Sijistān grew intense and wearisome. Among them was a certain man.

The Companions of the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to sit in separate circles: one group would rise, fight the enemy, then return; afterward another group would rise, fight, and return—so it went on.

Some of them said to one another, “Do you not see in this man the very description the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace) mentioned?” One affirmed it to the next, and the next to another, until they were all of one opinion.

They went to him and said, “Man, the fighting and our effort to take this fortress have become extremely difficult for us. We see in you the description the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace) gave, so beseech your Lord—majestic and exalted—to grant us victory.”

He withdrew from them and said, “I am only a poor, weak man. I never had the honor of accompanying the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace); I have merely kept company with you, hoping for your blessing and to learn from you.”

They repeated their request until he became perturbed. Then they said, “We ask you, by the right of our companionship, to adjure your Lord—exalted is He—to open the way for us.”

He said, “O Lord, I adjure You: grant us victory and make me the first to be killed.”

Allah granted them victory, and he was the first to fall in battle.