The Chapters on Jihad

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

Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah narrated to us: ʿAffān narrated to us: Daylam ibn Ghazwān narrated to us: Thābit narrated to us, from Anas ibn Mālik, who said: I was present at a battle, and ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rawāḥah said: “My soul, why do I see you disliking Paradise? I swear by God, you shall descend willingly—or be made to descend unwillingly!”

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

Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah narrated to us: Yaʿlā ibn ʿUbayd narrated to us: Ḥajjāj ibn Dīnār narrated to us, from Muḥammad ibn Dhakwān, from Shahr ibn Ḥawshab, from ʿAmr ibn ʿAbasah, who said: I came to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and said: “Messenger of God, which striving in battle is best?” He said: “One in which your blood is shed and your horse is hamstrung.”

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

Bishr ibn Ādam and Aḥmad ibn Thābit al-Jaḥdarī narrated to us, both saying: Ṣafwān ibn ʿĪsā narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn ʿAjlān narrated to us, from al-Qaʿqāʿ ibn Ḥakīm, from Abū Ṣāliḥ, from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “No one is wounded in the path of God—and God knows best who is wounded in His path—but will come on the Day of Resurrection with his wound as it was on the day he was wounded: its color the color of blood, and its scent the scent of musk.”

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

Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Numayr narrated to us: Yaʿlā ibn ʿUbayd narrated to us: Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid narrated to me: I heard ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Awfā say: The Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, supplicated against the Confederates, saying: “O God, Revealer of the Book, swift in reckoning, defeat the Confederates. O God, defeat them and shake them.”

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

Ḥarmalah ibn Yaḥyā and Aḥmad ibn ʿĪsā, the two Egyptians, narrated to us, both saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Wahb narrated to us: Abū Shurayḥ ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Shurayḥ narrated to me that Sahl ibn Abī Umāmah ibn Sahl ibn Ḥunayf related to him, from his father, from his grandfather, that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Whoever sincerely asks God for martyrdom from his heart, God will raise him to the ranks of the martyrs, even if he dies in his bed.”

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

Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah narrated to us: Ibn Abī ʿAdī narrated to us, from Ibn ʿAwn, from Hilāl ibn Abī Zaynab, from Shahr ibn Ḥawshab, from Abū Hurayrah, from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. The martyrs were mentioned in the Prophet presence, and he said: “The earth will not dry from the martyr blood before his two wives hasten to him, like two wet nurses whose young camels have strayed in an open plain. In the hand of each of them is a garment better than the world and all it contains.”

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

Hishām ibn ʿAmmār narrated to us: Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh narrated to us: Baḥīr ibn Saʿd narrated to me, from Khālid ibn Maʿdān, from al-Miqdām ibn Maʿdīkarib, from the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, who said: “The martyr has six distinctions with God: he is forgiven with the first gush of his blood; he is shown his place in Paradise; he is protected from the punishment of the grave; he is safe from the greatest terror; he is adorned with the garment of faith; he is married to the wide-eyed maidens; and he may intercede for seventy of his relatives.”

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

Ibrāhīm ibn al-Mundhir al-Ḥizāmī narrated to us: Mūsā ibn Ibrāhīm al-Ḥizāmī al-Anṣārī narrated to us: I heard Ṭalḥah ibn Kharrāsh say: I heard Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh say: When ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr ibn Ḥarām was killed on the day of Uḥud, the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, said to Jābir: “Shall I tell you what God, Mighty and Majestic, said to your father?” Jābir said yes. The Prophet said: “God speaks to no one except from behind a veil, but He spoke to your father face to face. God said to him: My servant, ask of Me and I will give you. He replied: Lord, bring me back to life so that I may be killed for Your sake a second time. God said: It has already been decreed by Me that they will not return to it. He said: Lord, then convey this to those I left behind. So God, Mighty and Majestic, revealed this entire verse: Do not think of those who have been killed in the path of God as dead...”

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

ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad narrated to us: Abū Muʿāwiyah narrated to us: al-Aʿmash narrated to us, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Murrah, from Masrūq, from ʿAbd Allāh, concerning the verse “Do not think of those who have been killed in the path of God as dead; rather, they are alive with their Lord, provided for.” He said: We asked about that, and the Prophet said: “Their souls are in green birds, roaming freely in Paradise wherever they wish, then taking shelter in lamps suspended from the Throne. While they are in that state, your Lord looks upon them and says: Ask Me for whatever you wish.” They say: “Our Lord, what should we ask You for, when we roam freely in Paradise wherever we wish?” When they realize they will not be left without asking, they say: “We ask You to return our souls to our bodies in the world, so that we may be killed in Your path.” When He sees they ask for nothing but that, they are left.”

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

Muḥammad ibn Bashshār, Aḥmad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Dawraqī, and Bishr ibn Ādam narrated to us, all saying: Ṣafwān ibn ʿĪsā narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn ʿAjlān informed us, from al-Qaʿqāʿ ibn Ḥakīm, from Abū Ṣāliḥ, from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “The martyr feels the touch of death only as one of you feels the pinch of an insect.”

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

Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah narrated to us: Wakīʿ narrated to us, from Abū al-ʿUmays, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jābir ibn ʿAtīk, from his father, from his grandfather, who fell ill. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, came to visit him, and a member of his family said: “We had hoped his death would be martyrdom in the path of God.” The Messenger of God said: “Then the martyrs of my community would be few. Being killed in the path of God is martyrdom; dying of plague is martyrdom; a woman who dies with a child in her womb is a martyr”—meaning a pregnant woman—“and drowning, burning, and pleurisy are martyrdom.”

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

Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Abī al-Shawārib narrated to us: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn al-Mukhtār narrated to us: Suhayl narrated to us, from his father, from Abū Hurayrah, from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, who said: “What do you say about the martyr among you?” They replied: “One killed in the path of God.” He said: “Then the martyrs of my community would be few. Whoever is killed in the path of God is a martyr, whoever dies in the path of God is a martyr, one who dies of an abdominal illness is a martyr, and one who dies of plague is a martyr.” Suhayl said: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Miqsam informed me, from Abū Ṣāliḥ, adding: “And one who drowns is a martyr.”

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

Hishām ibn ʿAmmār and Suwayd ibn Saʿīd narrated to us, both saying: Mālik ibn Anas narrated to us: al-Zuhrī narrated to me, from Anas ibn Mālik, that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, entered Mecca on the day of the Conquest wearing a helmet.

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

Hishām ibn ʿAmmār narrated to us: Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah narrated to us, from Yazīd ibn Khuṣayfah, from al-Sāʾib ibn Yazīd—God willing, Exalted is He—that on the day of Uḥud the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, took two coats of mail, as if wearing one over the other.

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

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ibrāhīm al-Dimashqī narrated to us: al-Walīd ibn Muslim narrated to us: al-Awzāʿī narrated to us: Sulaymān ibn Ḥabīb narrated to me, saying: We entered upon Abū Umāmah, and he saw some silver ornamentation on our swords. He became angry and said: “A people conquered the lands, and their swords were not adorned with gold and silver, but with lead, iron, and sinew.” Abū al-Ḥasan al-Qaṭṭān said: al-ʿalābī means sinew.

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

Abū Kurayb narrated to us: Ibn al-Ṣalt narrated to us, from Ibn Abī al-Zinād, from his father, from ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh, from Ibn ʿAbbās, that the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, took as a personal share his sword Dhū al-Fiqār on the day of Badr.

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

Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl ibn Samurah informed us: Wakīʿ informed us, from Sufyān, from Abū Isḥāq, from Abū al-Khalīl, from ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, who said: When al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah went on campaign with the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, he carried a spear with him. When he returned, he would throw down his spear so it could be carried for him. ʿAlī said to him: “I will mention that to the Messenger of God.” He said: “Do not do that, for if you do, a lost item will no longer be picked up.”

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

Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl ibn Samurah informed us: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā informed us, from Ashʿath ibn Saʿīd, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Busr, from Abū Rāshid, from ʿAlī, who said: The Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, had an Arab bow in his hand. He saw a man holding a Persian bow and said: “What is this? Throw it away. Use this and its like, and lances of cane, for through them God strengthens the religion and grants you authority in the lands.”

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

Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah narrated to us: Yazīd ibn Hārūn narrated to us: Hishām al-Dastawāʾī informed us, from Yaḥyā ibn Abī Kathīr, from Abū Sallām, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Azraq, from ʿUqbah ibn ʿĀmir al-Juhanī, from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, who said: “God will admit three people to Paradise because of a single arrow: its maker, who seeks good in making it; the one who shoots it; and the one who supplies it.” The Messenger of God also said: “Shoot and ride; shooting is dearer to me than riding. Everything with which a Muslim amuses himself is false play, except shooting with his bow, training his horse, and playing with his wife, for these are among the true things.”

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

Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā narrated to us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Wahb narrated to us: ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith informed me, from Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, from al-Qāsim ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, from ʿAmr ibn ʿAbasah, who said: I heard the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, say: “Whoever shoots an arrow at the enemy and it reaches them, whether it hits or misses, it is equivalent to freeing a person.”