Fine Qualities

God's messenger met me and said, "How is it, Jabir, that I see you downcast?" I replied, "My father has died a martyr, leaving children and a debt." He asked, "Shall I not give you good news of what God has caused your father to meet?" and when I replied, "Certainly, messenger of God," he said, "God has never spoken to anyone but from behind a veil, but He brought your father to life and spoke to him face to face saying, `My servant, if you express a wish to Me, I shall grant it.' He replied, `0 my Lord, my wish is that Thou shouldest grant me life and let me be killed for Thy sake a second time but the Lord who is blessed and exalted said, `I have already said that they will not return'." Then came down, "You must not consider those who have been killed in God's path to be dead...[*]" *Quran; 3:169Tirmidhi transmitted it.

He told that God's messenger asked forgiveness for him twenty-five times. Tirmidhi transmitted it.

Anas reported God's messenger as saying, "There are many with dishevelled hair and dusty bodies who wear two ragged garments to whom no attention is paid but who would be declared righteous by God if they adjured Him. Among them is al-Bara' b. Malik." Tirmidhi and Baihaqi, in Dala'il an-nubuwa, transmitted it.

Abu Sa'id reported God's messenger as saying, "My confidants to whom I turn are my family, and my close friends are the Ansar, so forgive those of them who do wrong and accept the excuses of those of them who do good." Tirmidhi transmitted it, saying this is a hasan tradition.

Ibn `Abbas reported the Prophet as saying, "Let no one who believes in God and the Last Day hate the Ansar."Tirmidhi transmitted it, saying this is a hasan sahih tradition.

Anas quoted Abu Talha as telling that God's messenger said to him, "Give your people a greeting, for they, so far as I know, are abstemious and show endurance." Tirmidhi transmitted it.

Jabir told that al-Hatib's slave came to the Prophet to complain to him of Hatib, and said, "Messenger of God, Hatib will certainly enter hell." He replied, "You lie ; he will not enter it, for he was present at Badr and al-Hudaibiya." Muslim transmitted it. Here we have a tradition from Muslim in section II

Abu Huraira told that God's messenger recited this verse, "If you turn back He will substitute other people for you and they will not be like you[*]," and the people asked, "Messenger of God, who are these people of whom God has mentioned that they will be substituted for us if we turn back and will not be like us?" He struck Salman al-Farisi on the thigh and said, "This man and his people. If the religion were in the Pleiades men from among the Persians would attain to it." *Quran 47:38Tirmidhi transmitted it.

He told that when the foreigners were mentioned in the presence of God's messenger he said, "I have more trust in them (or, in some of them) than I have in you (or, in some of you.)" Tirmidhi transmitted it.

`Ali reported God's messenger as saying, "Every prophet has seven eminent men who are guardians, but I have been given fourteen." `Ali was asked who they were and replied, "I, my two sons, Ja'far, Hamza, Abu Bakr, `Umar, Mus'ab b. `Umair, Bilal, Salman, `Ammar, `Abdallah b. Mas`ud Abu Dharr and al-Miqdad." Tirmidhi transmitted it.

`Ammar b. Yasir and I had words, and when I spoke roughly to him, he went to God's messenger and complained to him of me. Khalid[*] came when he was complaining to the Prophet and began to speak roughly to him, with the result that he made him all the more angry. The Prophet meanwhile kept silent without speaking a word, so `Ammar wept and said, "Messenger of God, do you not see him?" The Prophet then raised his head and said, "He who is hostile to `Ammar is hostile to God and he who hates `Ammar is hated by God." Khalid said: I then went out, and there was nothing dearer to me than 'Ammar's goodwill, so I treated him in a manner pleasing to him and he was well pleased. Abu `Ubaida told that he heard God's messenger say, "Khalid is one of the swords of God who is great and glorious, and he is the fine warrior of the tribe."*Here the narrator of the tradition seems to take over the story till near the end where Khalid himself is again the speaker.Ahmad transmitted the two traditions.

Buraida reported God's messenger as saying, "God who is blessed and exalted has commanded me to love four people, and He has informed me that He loves them." He was asked to name them and said, "`Ali is one of them (saying that three times), also Abu Dharr, al-Miqdad and Salman. He has commanded me to love them, and He has informed me that He loves them." Tirmidhi transmitted it, saying this is a hasan gharib tradition.

Jabir told that `Umar used to say, "Abu Bakr is our chief, and he manumitted our chief," meaning Bilal. Bukhari transmitted it.

Qais b. Abu Hazim told that Bilal said to Abu Bakr, "If you bought me only for your own sake keep me, but if you bought me only for God's sake let me go and undertake God's work." Bukhari transmitted it.

Abu Huraira told that when a man came to God's messenger and told him he was suffering from distress he sent a message to one of his wives who said, "I swear by Him who sent you with the truth that I have nothing but water. He sent to another who said the same, and when they had all said the same God's messenger said, "Who will provide entertainment for him? God have mercy on him!" One of the Ansar called Abu Talha got up and said, "I shall, messenger of God." He then, took him to his house and asked his wife if she had anything, and when she replied that they had nothing but the children's food he said, "Put them off with something and put them to sleep. Then when our guest enters make him think we are eating, and when he puts forward his hand to eat get up, go to the lamp to adjust it, and put it out." She did so and they sat down, and the guest ate but they spent the night hungry. In the morning he came to God's messenger who said, "God is charmed with (or, has smiled on) such and such a man and such and such a woman." A version has the same without his naming Abu Talha, and at the end it says that God most high then sent down, "And they give preference to others over themselves even though they are suffering poverty[*]."*Quran; 59:9.(Bukhari and Muslim.)

We alighted at a camping-place along with God's messenger, and when the people began to pass, he was asking, "Who is this, Abu Huraira?" and I would tell him it was so and so. He would then say, "This is a good servant of God.' He would ask about another, and when I told him he was so and so he said, "This is a bad servant of God." This went on till Khalid b. al-Walid passed by, and when he asked who he was and I replied that he was Khalid b. al-Walid, he said, "Khalid b. al-Walid is a good servant of God; he is one of God's swords." Tirmidhi transmitted it.

Zaid b. Arqam told that when the Ansar said, "Prophet of God, every prophet has followers and we have followed you, so beseech God to appoint that our followers should be of our stock," he did so. Bukhari transmitted it.

We know no clan of the Arabs which will have more martyrs or be more exalted on the day of resurrection than the Ansar. He told that Anas said seventy of them were killed at the battle of Uhud, seventy at the battle of Bi'r Ma'una[1], and seventy at the battle of al-Yamama[2] in the time of Abu Bakr. 1. In Safar, 4 A.H. 2. 11 A.H., when Musailima was killed.Bukhari transmitted it.

Qais b. Abu Hazim told that the grant to those who were present at Badr was five thousand each and that `Umar said, "I shall certainly give them precedence over those who come after them." Bukhari transmitted it.List of names of those present at Badr whose names are given in the Jami' by Bukhari.The Prophet, Muhammad b. `Abdallah al-Hashimi, `Abdallah b. `Uthman Abu Bakr as-Siddiq al-Qurashi, `Umar b. al-Khattab al-`Adawi, `Uthman b, `Affan al-Qurashi whom the Prophet left behind to look after his daughter Ruqayya but to whom he appointed his portion, `Ali b. Abu Talib al-Hashimi, Iyas b. al-Bukair, Bilal b. Rabah client of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq, Hamza b. `Abd al-Muttalib al-Hashimi, Hatib b. Abu Balta'a the ally of Quraish, Abu Hudhaifa b. `Utba b. Rabi'a al Qurashi, Haritha b. ar-Rubayyi' al-Ansari who was killed at the battle of Badr, and he was Haritha b. Suraqa[1] who was one of the look-out, Khubaib b. `Adi al-Ansari, Khunais b. Hudhafa as-Sahmi, Riafa'a b. Rafi' al-Ansari, Rifa'a b. `Abd al-Mundhir Abu Lubaba al-Ansari, az-Zubair b. al-`Awwam al-Qurashi, Zaid b. Sahl Abu Talha al-Ansari, Abu Zaid al-Ansari, Sa'd b. Malik az-Zuhri, Sa'd b. Khaula al-Qurashi, Sa'id b. Zaid b. `Amr b. Nufail al-Qurashi, Sahl b. Hunaif al-Ansari, Zuair b. Rafi' al-Ansari and his brother[2], 'Abdallah b. Mas'ud al-Hudhali[3], 'Abd ar-Rahman b. ` Auf az Zuhri, `Ubaida b. al-Harith al-Qurashi, `Ubada b. as Samit al-Ansari, `Amr b. 'Auf the ally of the B. `Amir b. Lu'ayy, 'Uqba b. `Amr al-Ansari, `Amir b. Rabi'a al-'Anzi, `Asim b. Thabit al Ansari, `Uwaim b. Sa'ida al-Ansari, `Itban b. Malik al-Ansari, Qudama b. Maz'un, Qatada b. an-Nu`man al-Ansari, Mu'adh b. `Amr b. al-Jamuh, Mu'awwidh b. `Afra and his brother[4], Malik b. Rabi'a Abu Usaid al Ansari, Mistah b. Uthatha b. 'Abbad b. al-Muttalib b. 'Abd Manaf, Murara b. ar-Rabi' al-Anaari, Ma'n b. `Adi al-Ansari, Miqdad b. 'Amr al-Kindi the ally of the B. Zuhra, Hilal b. Umayya al-Ansari. God be pleased with them all![5]1. Cf. p. 810. 2. His name was Muzahhir. 3. Bukhari, Maghazi, 13, adds here 'Utba b. Mas'ud al-Hudhali. 4. His name was Mu'adh. 5. Bukhari, Maghazi, 13, does not give `all'.

`Umar b. al-Khattab reported God's messenger as saying, "A man called Uwais will come to you from the Yemen leaving there only a mother. He had been afflicted by leprosy and made supplication to God who removed it all except to the extent of a dinar (or dirham). If any of you meet him let him ask forgiveness for you." In a version he told that he heard God's messenger say, "The best of the Followers will be a man called Uwais who has a mother and has been afflicted by leprosy. Tell him he must ask forgiveness for you." Muslim transmitted it.