It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that on the day of Badr the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) took his sword "Dhu al-Faqar" as an extra share (nafl). Ibn Abbas says: This is the very sword about which he (peace and blessings be upon him) saw a dream on the day of Uhud. What happened was that when the idolaters came on the day of Uhud, the opinion of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was that they should stay in Madinah and face them there. But some people who had not been able to take part in Badr said: Let the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) take us out to them so that we may fight them at Uhud. They hoped to attain the same virtue that the people of Badr had attained. They kept pressing the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) until he (peace and blessings be upon him) put on his battle dress (armour). Then they regretted it and said: O Messenger of Allah, stay; the (right) opinion is your opinion. So the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "It is not befitting for a prophet, once he has put on his battle dress, to take it off before Allah judges between him and his enemy." Before putting on the battle dress, he (peace and blessings be upon him) had said to them: "I saw in a dream that I was in a strong coat of armour, which I interpreted as Madinah; and I saw that I was riding behind a ram, which I interpreted as the ram (commander) of the army; and I saw that my sword Dhu al-Faqar had become notched, which I interpreted as a loss that will befall you; and I saw a cow being slaughtered, and by Allah, that (slaughter of the) cow is good, it is good (that is, the martyrdom of Muslims)." This hadith has a sahih (authentic) chain of narration, but the two Shaykhs (Bukhari and Muslim) did not record it.