It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Umamah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) prepared for a battle. I presented myself in the service of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and requested: O Messenger of Allah! Pray to Allah Almighty for me to be martyred. But the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed thus: O Allah! Keep him safe and grant him honor from the spoils of war. As a result of this prayer, we remained safe and returned with the spoils of war. After that, on another occasion, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) prepared for a battle. I presented myself in your service and said: O Messenger of Allah! This time, please pray to Allah Almighty for martyrdom for me. But the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed thus: O Allah! Keep him safe and grant him honor from the spoils of war. By the blessing of this prayer of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), we remained safe and returned with the spoils of war. After that, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prepared for a third battle. I came to your service and said: O Messenger of Allah! Pray to Allah Almighty for martyrdom for me. You prayed both times that Allah keep us safe and grant us from the spoils of war. Thus, both times we remained safe and returned with the spoils of war. O Messenger of Allah! Pray to Allah for martyrdom for me. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed thus: O Allah! Keep him safe and grant him honor from the spoils of war. Thus, we remained safe and returned with the spoils of war. I presented myself in your service and said: O Messenger of Allah! Command me to do such a deed that if I act upon it, Allah will benefit me through it. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Observe fasting, for no deed can match fasting. Raja bin Haywah says: After that, Sayyiduna Abu Umamah (may Allah be pleased with him), his wife, and his servant were seen in a state of fasting. Raja says: If ever smoke was seen rising from their house during the day, people would say that a guest or visitor must have come to them. Sayyiduna Abu Umamah (may Allah be pleased with him) says: As long as Allah willed, I remained steadfast in fasting. Then once I went to the service of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: O Messenger of Allah! You have commanded us to fast; I hope that Allah has blessed us in this deed. Now, please command us to do another deed besides this. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Know that for every prostration you make for the pleasure and approval of Allah, Allah will raise you one degree and forgive one of your sins.

Asim narrated from a resident of Makkah that Yazid bin Muawiyah was the commander of the army in which Sayyiduna Abu Ayyub Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) participated. At the time of his death, Yazid came to him, so he said to him: "When I pass away, convey my greetings to the people on my behalf and inform them that I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: Whoever dies in such a state that he does not associate anyone with Allah, Allah will grant him Paradise. After that, carry my body as far as possible into the territory of Rome. Thus, when Sayyiduna Abu Ayyub (may Allah be pleased with him) passed away, Yazid informed the people of his death. The people put on their weapons and set out carrying his body."

It is narrated from Abu Zubyan that Sayyiduna Abu Ayyub (may Allah be pleased with him) participated in a battle against the Romans and fell ill there. When the time of his death approached, he said: When I pass away, carry me forward, and wherever you encounter the enemy, bury me beneath your feet at that spot. I will tell you a hadith I heard from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). If I were not in this state (i.e., in the illness of death), I would not have narrated this hadith to you. I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: Whoever dies in such a state that he does not associate anyone with Allah, he will enter Paradise.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, that a man came and said: O Messenger of Allah! So-and-so has a date palm tree, and I am in need of that tree so that I can straighten the wall of my garden with it. Please order him to give me that tree so that I may strengthen the wall of my garden. The Noble Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said to him: Give him this tree, and in return, I will give you a tree in Paradise. He refused this offer. Upon hearing this, Sayyiduna Abu Dahdah, may Allah be pleased with him, came to that man and said: Sell me this one date palm in exchange for my entire garden. He did so. Then Sayyiduna Abu Dahdah, may Allah be pleased with him, came to the service of the Noble Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and said: O Messenger of Allah! I have bought that one date palm in exchange for my entire garden; please give this date palm to the one in need. I have handed over this date palm to you. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: How many clusters of dates are hanging in Paradise for Abu Dahdah, may Allah be pleased with him! The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, repeated this statement several times. Abu Dahdah, may Allah be pleased with him, went to his wife and said: O Umm Dahdah! Come out of the garden; I have sold this garden in exchange for a date palm in Paradise. She said: You have made a very profitable deal.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Jabir bin Samurah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) performed the funeral prayer of the son of Dahdah (may Allah be pleased with him) or Abu Dahdah. After that, a horse without a saddle was presented to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). A man tied its leg with a rope. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) mounted it, and the horse began to prance. We were walking quickly behind him. One of the people said that the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "How many clusters of dates in Paradise are hanging in wait for Abu Dahdah." In his narration, Hajjaj stated that a man sitting with us in the gathering narrated from Sayyiduna Jabir bin Samurah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "How many clusters of dates in Paradise are hanging for Abu Dahdah."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Darda’ (may Allah be pleased with him) that a man stayed as a guest with him. He asked the man,“If you intend to stay with us, we will send your mount to the pasture, and if you plan to leave soon, we will feed it here.”The man replied,“No, I am about to leave.”He (Abu Darda’) said,“I want to give you some provision for your journey. If I had a better gift than this, I would have presented it to you. I once went to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and said, ‘O Messenger of Allah! The wealthy have surpassed us in this world and the Hereafter. We (the poor) perform prayers and so do the rich; we fast and so do they, but they give charity and we cannot give charity.’ The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, ‘Shall I not tell you of an act, which if you do, none before you will surpass you, nor will anyone after you catch up with you, except one who does the same? After every prayer, say thirty-three times Subhan Allah, thirty-three times Alhamdulillah, and thirty-four times Allahu Akbar.’”

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Yusuf bin Abdullah bin Salam (may Allah be pleased with him), he says: I went to serve Sayyiduna Abu Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) for the sake of acquiring knowledge, when the time of his death approached. He said to me: Inform the people of my death. I informed the people of his death, and when I returned, his house and the surrounding places were filled with people. I went and said to him: I have informed the people of your death and the house and the surrounding places have filled with people. He said to me: Take me outside. We took him outside. He said: Make me sit down. We made him sit down. He said: O people! I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say that whoever performs ablution properly and then performs two units of prayer completely, then whatever he asks Allah for in supplication, Allah will surely grant him his desired thing, sooner or later. Then he said: O people! Do not look here and there in prayer. Whoever looks here and there, his prayer is not valid. If there is a need for it in voluntary prayer, then it is permissible, but do not allow it in obligatory prayer.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Samit (may Allah be pleased with him) that Sayyiduna Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him) said: We set out as a delegation from our tribe Ghifar, who used to consider the sacred months permissible. I (Abu Dharr), my brother Anis, and my mother set out and stayed with our maternal uncle, who was wealthy and held a good position. He honored us greatly and did good to us, but his people became jealous of us. So they said: When you go out from your family, Anis comes to them. Thus, our uncle came and began to backbite us regarding what was said to him. I said to him: The good you did to us, you have now spoiled it, and henceforth we will not come to you. We reached our camels, mounted them, and set off. My uncle covered himself with a cloth and began to weep. We kept going and camped near Mecca. Anis boasted to a man about our camels and an equal number of others. Both of them went to a soothsayer for judgment, and he chose Anis. So Anis came to us with our camels and as many more. He said: O my nephew! I have been praying for three years before meeting the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). I said: For whom? He said: For Allah, the Exalted. I said: In which direction did you face? He said: In whichever direction my Lord turned my face. I used to pray the night prayer in the last part of the night. Now I lay down in silence until the sun rose. Anis said: I have some work in Mecca, so suffice for me. Anis left, reached Mecca, and repaid my good with evil. Then he returned. I asked: What did you do there? He said: I met a man in Mecca who is upon your religion; he claims that Allah, the Exalted, has sent him. I said: What do people say about him? He said: People call him a poet, a soothsayer, and a magician. Anis himself was a poet. He said: But I have heard the words of soothsayers and compared his words to the speech of eloquent poets, but no tongue can judge that (the words of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him) are poetry. By Allah! He is truthful and the people are liars. I said: Now suffice for me, so that I may also go and see (what the real matter is). He said: Beware of the people of Mecca, for they dislike him. I reached Mecca and stayed as a guest with a man and asked him: Where is the man whom you call irreligious? He pointed at me and said: This is the irreligious one. (Upon hearing this) the people of the valley attacked me with clods of earth and bones, and I fell unconscious. When (I regained consciousness and) got up, it seemed as if I was a red stone. I came to the water of Zamzam, washed off the blood, drank its water, and entered inside the curtains of the Ka’bah. O my nephew! I stayed there for thirty days. I had no food except Zamzam, and by drinking it I became fat (i.e., I made up for the lack of food) and filled the folds of my stomach. I did not feel any emaciation due to hunger. (Days passed and) one day in Mecca, it was a moonlit night and the sky was clear, suddenly they heard a voice that no one should circumambulate the House of Allah, and two women were calling upon Isaf and Na’ila. He said: They passed by me during the circumambulation, and I said: Marry one to the other. But they did not desist from their words. (During another round) they passed by me again. I said: The private part is like wood, and I did not speak metaphorically. Both of them went away screaming and shouting, saying: If only there was a man from our group here! He said: Meanwhile, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and Abu Bakr were coming down (from a height) in front of them. He said: What has happened to you? They said: Between the Ka’bah and its curtains is an irreligious one. He said: What did he say to you? They said: He said such a thing that fills the mouth. At that moment, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) came and touched the Black Stone, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) and his companion circumambulated the House of Allah and then prayed. When they finished the prayer, Abu Dharr said: I was the first person to greet them with the greeting of Islam and said: O Messenger of Allah! Peace be upon you. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: And upon you be peace and the mercy of Allah. Then he said: Who are you? I said: I am from the tribe of Ghifar. Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) lowered his hand and placed his finger on his forehead. I thought to myself that perhaps he disliked my attribution to Ghifar. I wanted to take his hand, but his companion stopped me, and he knew him better than I did. Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) raised his head and asked: How long have you been in this place? I said: I have been here for thirty days. Then he said: Who has been feeding you? I said: I had no food except the water of Zamzam; by drinking it I became fat and filled the folds of my stomach, and I did not feel any emaciation due to hunger. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: This water is blessed, and it is food that suffices for food. Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) said: O Messenger of Allah! Allow me, tonight I will feed him. He (peace and blessings be upon him) gave permission. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and Abu Bakr set out, and I went with them. Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) opened the door and began to bring dates from Ta’if. This was the first food I ate. Then I stayed there for some time. Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: A land of dates has been made subservient to me; I think it is Yathrib (Medina). Will you convey my message to your people? Perhaps Allah, the Exalted, will benefit them through you and grant you reward because of them. I went to Anis. He asked: What have you done? I said: I have accepted Islam and affirmed it. He said: I do not dislike your religion; I too have submitted and affirmed. We both went to our mother, and she said: I do not dislike your religion either; I too have become Muslim and submitted. We mounted and reached our tribe Ghifar. Half the tribe became Muslim. Ima’ bin Rahda Ghifari, who was their chief, used to lead them in prayer. And half the tribe said: When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) comes to Medina, we too will become Muslim. So when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) came to Medina, those people of the other half of the tribe also became Muslim. The people of the tribe of Aslam came and said: O Messenger of Allah! We become Muslim upon that which our brothers became Muslim. Then they became Muslim, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: The tribe of Ghifar—may Allah forgive it, and the tribe of Aslam—may Allah keep it in peace.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Amr bin Aas (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: The earth has not carried any man, nor has the sky shaded any man, who is more truthful than Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him).

(Second chain) It is in this: One who is more truthful than Abu Dharr in speech.