A man [from the Ansar], clad in iron armor, came to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and said, “Messenger of Allah, should I fight or embrace Islam?” He replied, “No; rather, embrace Islam and then fight.” So he embraced Islam, then fought and was killed. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, then said, “This man did little, yet was rewarded greatly.”

The wording is al-Bukhari’s, though he does not have the word “this”; it appears in Ahmad, along with the other two additions. The first of these is also found in Muslim (6/43–44), through Zakariyya from Abu Ishaq, with the wording: “A man from Banu al-Nabit—a clan of the Ansar—came and said, ‘I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah, and that you are His servant and Messenger.’ Then he advanced and fought until he was killed.” The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, then said the same, except that he said, “He did a small deed,” in place of, “He did little.”

Al-Tayalisi also transmitted it in his Musnad (724), and through him al-Ruyani in his Musnad (21/2/1–2): Abu Waki‘ [al-Jarrah ibn Mulayh] narrated to us from Abu Ishaq that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, was fighting the enemy when a man clad in iron armor came. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, invited him to Islam, and he embraced Islam. He asked, “What is the best deed that I may perform?” He replied, “Fight the people from whom you have come.” So he fought until he was killed, whereupon the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said the same.

Then al-Ruyani (20/13/1–2), as did Sa‘id ibn Mansur in al-Sunan (3/2/230), transmitted it through Hudaij ibn Mu‘awiyah, who said: Abu Ishaq narrated to us from al-Bara’ ibn ‘Azib something similar, except that he added: “He said, ‘Even if I have not performed a single prayer for Allah?’ He replied, ‘Yes.’ Then he charged, fought, and was killed.”

I say: Abu Ishaq was ‘Amr ibn ‘Abd Allah al-Subay‘i, and the four routes of transmission, as you can see, revolve around him. He had suffered a deterioration of memory, and Isra’il—who was the son of Yunus ibn Abi Ishaq,