from his quiver, fixed it to the middle of the bow, and, saying, “In the name of Allah, the Lord of this boy,” let the arrow fly. It struck the boy at his temple; he placed his hand on the wound and died. The people immediately began proclaiming, “In the name of Allah, the Lord of this boy!” They believed in Allah and disavowed the king—and that was exactly what the boy had intended.

From this portion of the ḥadīth we learn several points:

Second: the remarkable strength of the boy’s faith; he never budged from his belief nor turned aside.

Second (again): it contains a sign from among the signs of Allah, for He honored the boy by answering his plea, shaking the mountain beneath those who meant to throw him from its summit until they all plunged to their deaths.

Third: Allah answers the supplication of the one in dire straits when he calls upon Him. Whoever implores his Lord in genuine desperation, certain that Allah will respond, will find that Allah—Most High—does respond. Even the unbelievers, when danger engulfs them at sea and waves tower over them like awnings, call upon Allah with exclusive devotion; once He delivers them, however, they lapse back into idolatry. He saves them because, at the moment of supplication, they truly returned to Him. Exalted is He; He answers the distressed even if the caller is an unbeliever.

Fourth: a person may expose himself to mortal risk when doing so serves a public interest for the Muslims. The boy himself showed the king the very method that would kill him—taking an arrow from his own quiver, setting it to the bow, and declaring, “In the name of Allah, the Lord of this boy.”

Shaykh al-Islām commented: “This was jihad in the path of Allah; through it an entire nation came to believe, and the boy lost nothing—for he died, and die he would sooner or later.”