that have been fabricated. For this reason, no Muslim scholar has narrated it in any of the books regarded as authoritative. Indeed, no chain of transmission is known for it, whether sound or weak (1).

It is a falsehood that may not be attributed to the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace. It cannot be the case that killing a disbeliever is better than all the worship rendered by jinn and humankind, since that includes the prophets’ own worship. Other disbelievers have been killed whose killing was of greater consequence than that of Amr ibn [Abd] (2) Wudd. This Amr did not exhibit hostility toward the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—or inflict harm upon him and the believers to the degree that the chiefs of Quraysh who were killed at Badr did, such as Abū Jahl, Uqba ibn Abī Muayt, Shayba ibn Rabīa, al-Nadr ibn al-Hārith, and others like them concerning whom the Quran was revealed. Nothing in the Quran was revealed concerning this Amr, nor is he known for anything that set him apart in his hostility toward the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and the believers.

No mention of this Amr ibn Abd Wudd is known in connection with the campaign of Badr or Uhud, any other campaign in which Quraysh marched against the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—or any of the military detachments. He became known only through the account of the Trench, even though (3) his story is not recorded in the Sahīh collections and similar works, whereas those collections report the three single combats against three opponents on the day of Badr: Hamza, Ubayda, and Alī against Utba, Shayba, and al-Walīd.

The works of Quranic exegesis and hadith are replete with accounts of the polytheists who used to harm