Hence, some scholars regarded it as disliked to pray for a person’s mere longevity. They said: do not say, “May Allah prolong your life,” unless you qualify it; rather say, “May Allah prolong your life in obedience to Him,” for a long life may turn out to be harmful. We ask Allah to make us and you among those whose lives are long, whose deeds are good, whose final moments and well-being are excellent; He is indeed Generous and Bountiful.

109 — Fifteenth narration: Anas ibn Mālik — may Allah be pleased with him — reported: My uncle Anas ibn al-Naḍr — may Allah be pleased with him — was absent from the Battle of Badr. He said, “Messenger of Allah, I missed the first engagement in which you fought the idolaters. If Allah lets me witness another battle against the idolaters, He will surely see what I do.”

When the Day of Uḥud came and the Muslims broke ranks, he said, “O Allah, I plead my excuse to You for what these people — meaning his companions — have done, and I declare my disavowal to You of what those people — meaning the idolaters — have done.” He then advanced, and Saʿd ibn Muʿādh met him. He said, “O Saʿd ibn Muʿādh! Paradise — by the Lord of al-Naḍr! I can already smell its fragrance wafting from beyond Uḥud.”

Saʿd later said, “Messenger of Allah, I could not manage what he managed!” Anas continued: “We found on him more than eighty wounds — sword-strikes, spear-thrusts, or arrow-shots. We found that he had been killed and the idolaters had mutilated him, and no one recognised him except his sister, who identified him by his fingertips. We used to hold, or think, that this verse was revealed concerning him and people like him: ‘Among the believers are men who have been true to the covenant they made with Allah…’ to the end of the verse.” Agreed upon.

His statement, “li-yarayanna Allah,” is reported with the yāʾ pronounced with ḍammah and the rāʾ with kasrah, meaning: “Allah will certainly make that evident.”