Sahih al-Bukhari 4322

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

Al-Layth related from Yahya ibn Said, from Umar ibn Kathir ibn Aflah, from Abu Muhammad, the freedman of Abu Qatada, that Abu Qatada said: “On the day of Hunayn, I saw a Muslim fighting a polytheist while another polytheist was sneaking up behind the Muslim to kill him. I hurried toward the one sneaking up. He raised his hand to strike me, so I struck his hand and cut it off. Then he seized me and squeezed me hard until I feared for my life. He then loosened his grip, and I pushed him away and killed him. The Muslims fled, and I fled with them. I saw Umar ibn al-Khattab among the people and asked, ‘What is happening to the people?’ He said, ‘It is Allah’s decree.’ “Then the people returned to the Messenger of Allah, who said, ‘Whoever establishes proof that he killed a man may have that man’s personal effects.’ I got up to find proof for the man I had killed, but could find no one to testify for me, so I sat down. Then I thought of it and told the Messenger of Allah what had happened. A man sitting with him said, ‘The weapons of the man he mentions are with me; let him have them as compensation.’ Abu Bakr said, ‘No! Would he give them to a weak Qurayshi and leave a lion among the lions of Allah, fighting for Allah and His Messenger?’ The Messenger of Allah stood and handed them to me. I bought a garden with them, and it was the first property I acquired in Islam.”