‘Umm al-Mu’minin Aisha Siddiqa (may Allah be pleased with her) says that she asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him),“O Messenger of Allah! Has there been a day more severe upon you than the day of Uhud?”The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) replied,“I have faced much hardship from your people (meaning the tribe of Quraysh), and the most severe distress I faced was on the day of ‘Aqabah, when I presented myself to the son of ‘Abd Yalil (meaning, I invited him to Islam), but he did not accept what I said. I left, and my face was full of sorrow and grief. I did not come to my senses (meaning, I kept walking in the same distress) until I reached (the place of) Qarn al-Tha‘alib. I raised my head and saw that a piece of cloud was shading me, and in it was Jibril. He called me and said, ‘Allah, Glorified and Exalted, has heard what your people have said to you and how they have responded to you. He has sent the Angel of the Mountains to you so that you may command him as you wish.’ Then the Angel called me, greeted me with peace, and said, ‘O Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon you)! Allah has heard what your people have said to you. I am the Angel of the Mountains, and my Lord has sent me to you so that you may command me as you wish. So, what do you wish?’ If you wish, I will bring together the two mountains (meaning Abu Qubays and the mountain opposite it in Mecca) upon them (and crush them).’ The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, ‘(I do not wish for that), rather I hope that Allah will bring forth from their descendants those who will worship Allah alone and not associate anything with Him.’ (SubhanAllah, what compassion the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had for his Ummah. They caused him distress, yet he was willing to bear hardship for them.)

`Sayyiduna Jundub bin Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with him) says that in a battle, the finger of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was wounded and blood came out, so the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "It is nothing but a finger from which blood has come out, and you have suffered this pain in the way of Allah." (The meaning is that such a small pain in the way of Allah is insignificant.)

Sayyiduna Ibn Mas’ud (may Allah be pleased with him) says that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was praying near the Ka’bah and Abu Jahl was sitting with his companions, and a day before, a she-camel had been slaughtered. Abu Jahl said,“Who among you will go and bring its uterus and place it between Muhammad’s (peace and blessings be upon him) shoulders when he goes into prostration?”Upon hearing this, their wretched and miserable one (the accursed ‘Uqbah bin Abi Mu’it) got up and brought it, and when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) went into prostration, he placed the uterus between his shoulders. Then those people started laughing and, out of laughter, began falling over each other. I was standing and watching; if I had the strength (that is, if I had supporters), I would have thrown it off the back of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). And the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) remained in prostration and did not raise his head until a man went and informed Sayyidah Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with her), so she came, and at that time she was a girl, and she removed it from the back of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Then she turned towards those people and rebuked them. When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) finished his prayer, he supplicated against them in a loud voice. And it was his blessed habit that when he supplicated, he would supplicate three times, and when he asked Allah Almighty for something, he would ask three times. Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said,“O Allah! Punish the Quraysh.”Three times the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said this. And those people, upon hearing the voice of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), became afraid of his supplication, and their laughter ceased. Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said,“O Allah! Destroy Abu Jahl bin Hisham, ‘Utbah bin Rabi’ah, Shaybah bin Rabi’ah, Walid bin ‘Uqbah, Umayyah bin Khalaf, and ‘Uqbah bin Abi Mu’it, and I do not remember the name of the seventh (in the narration of Bukhari, his name is mentioned as ‘Amarah bin Walid).”Then, by the One Who sent Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) as a true Prophet, I saw all those people whose names the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) had mentioned lying slain on the day of Badr, and their corpses were dragged and thrown into the well of Badr (just as a dog is dragged and thrown). Abu Ishaq said that the name of Walid bin ‘Uqbah in this hadith is a mistake.

`Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with them) says that it is as if I am (still) seeing the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), that he (peace be upon him) was describing the condition of a prophet whose people had beaten him, and he was wiping the blood from his face and kept saying: "O Allah! Forgive my people, for they do not know." (Subhan Allah, what can be said about the patience of prophethood.)

Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Who will bring me news of Abu Jahl?" Upon hearing this, Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with them both) went and saw that the sons of 'Afra had beaten him so much that he was lying on the ground (i.e., near death). Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with them both) grabbed his beard and said, "Are you Abu Jahl?" He replied, "Have you killed a person of higher rank than this man (Abu Jahl)?" (i.e., there is no one of higher status among the Quraysh than me), or he said, "Has his people killed a greater man than him, who is greater than me?" (i.e., if you have killed me, it is no disgrace for me). Abu Majliz said that Abu Jahl said, "If only someone other than a farmer had killed me."

Sayyiduna Jabir bin Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Who will take the responsibility of (killing) Ka'b bin Ashraf? He has caused great harm to Allah and His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)." Sayyiduna Muhammad bin Maslamah (may Allah be pleased with him) stood up and said, "Do you wish that I kill him?" The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "Yes." So he said, "Give me permission so that I may say something (i.e., lie)." The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "You have permission." Thus, Sayyiduna Muhammad bin Maslamah (may Allah be pleased with him) went to him and said, "This man (i.e., Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) has asked us for charity and he has put us in hardship." Ka'b said, "What is it now? By Allah, you will face much more hardship in the future." He replied, "Well, now we have followed him, so suddenly leaving him does not seem good, but we are watching to see what the outcome will be. Anyway, I have come to you to borrow something." Ka'b bin Ashraf said, "Leave something with me as a pledge." He said, "What do you want as a pledge?" Ka'b said, "Leave your women with me as a pledge." He replied, "How can we leave our women with you? For you are the most handsome of the Arabs." Ka'b said, "Then leave your sons with me as a pledge." He replied, "How can we leave them as a pledge? Tomorrow they will be taunted that so-and-so was pledged for two wasqs of dates. But we will leave weapons with you." He said, "Alright." So they promised Ka'b that he would also bring Harith, Abu Abs bin Jabr, and Abbad bin Bishr with him. The narrator said that they came at night and called Ka'b. He came down from the fort to them. His wife asked, "Where are you going at this hour?" Ka'b replied, "Muhammad bin Maslamah (may Allah be pleased with him) and my brother Abu Na'ilah are calling me (there is nothing to fear)." The woman said, "From this voice, it is as if blood is dripping." Ka'b said, "It is only my friend Muhammad bin Maslamah (may Allah be pleased with him) and my milk-brother Abu Na'ilah, and if a noble man is called even at night to be struck with a spear, he immediately accepts." Meanwhile, Sayyiduna Muhammad bin Maslamah (may Allah be pleased with him) brought two other men with him. Muhammad bin Maslamah (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "When Ka'b bin Ashraf comes, I will catch hold of his hair and smell it. When you see that I have firmly grasped his head, then you should quickly kill him." When Ka'b came to them with his head wrapped in a sheet and the fragrance was spreading from him, Muhammad bin Maslamah (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "What a wonderful fragrance is coming from you." Ka'b replied, "Yes! My wife is the most fragrant woman among the Arabs." Muhammad bin Maslamah (may Allah be pleased with him) asked, "Do you permit me to smell your head?" He said, "Yes, why not." Muhammad bin Maslamah (may Allah be pleased with him) smelled it. He said, "Do I have permission to smell it again?" He said, "Yes, you do." So when Sayyiduna Muhammad bin Maslamah (may Allah be pleased with him) firmly caught hold of him, he said to his companions, "Strike him," so they killed Ka'b bin Ashraf.

Sayyiduna Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him) says that we went out on an expedition with the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and among six men we had only one camel. We would ride it in turns. Our feet became pierced and both my feet split open and my nails fell off, so we wrapped bandages around our feet. The name of this expedition, Dhat al-Riqa‘, was given for this reason (i.e., the expedition of patches and bandages), because we used to wrap bandages around our feet due to them being split open. Abu Burdah (the narrator) said that Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated this hadith once, then (out of fear of showing off) did not narrate it again. And Abu Usamah said that no other narrator besides Buraid added this: May Allah reward him.

Sayyiduna Ibrahim al-Taymi narrates from his father (Yazid bin Sharik al-Taymi) that he said: We were sitting with Sayyiduna Hudhayfah bin al-Yaman (may Allah be pleased with him) when a man said: If I had been in the blessed time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), I would have performed jihad with him and strived in fighting. Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Would you really have done so? (Meaning, your claim cannot be relied upon. Doing is one thing and saying is another. The efforts made by the Companions cannot be surpassed.) I see myself that we were with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) on the night of the Battle of Ahzab, the wind was blowing very strongly and it was extremely cold. At that time, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Is there anyone who will go and bring news of the disbelievers? Allah Almighty will keep him with me on the Day of Resurrection. Hearing this, we remained silent and no one replied (no one had the courage to go to such a fearful place at night in such cold, even though the bravery and devotion of the Companions is well known). Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Is there anyone who will bring me news of the disbelievers? And Allah Almighty will grant him my companionship on the Day of Resurrection. No one replied, all remained silent. Finally, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: O Hudhayfah! Get up and bring news of the disbelievers. Now there was no choice because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had called me by name and ordered me to go. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Go and bring news of the disbelievers and do not provoke them against me. (Meaning, do not do anything that would make them angry with me and they might kill you or prepare for battle.) When I left the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), it felt as if I was walking inside a bathhouse (meaning, the cold had completely vanished and it actually felt warm—this was the blessing of the Prophet’s supplication. Obedience to Allah and His Messenger at first seems difficult to the soul, but when one begins with readiness, instead of hardship, one finds pleasure and comfort.) Until I reached them and saw that Abu Sufyan was warming his back by the fire, so I placed an arrow on the bow and intended to shoot him. Then I remembered the command of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) not to do anything that would provoke them. If I had shot, I would surely have killed Abu Sufyan. Finally, I returned, and again it felt as if I was walking inside a bathhouse. When I came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and told him everything, only then did I feel the cold (this was a great miracle of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) covered me with one of his extra blankets, which he used to wear while praying. I wrapped myself in it and slept until morning. When morning came, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Get up, O you who sleep so much!

Sayyiduna Bara’ (may Allah be pleased with him) says that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was carrying earth with us on the Day of the Battle of Ahzab (when the trench was dug around Madinah), and the earth had covered the whiteness of his stomach. He (peace and blessings be upon him) was saying: By Allah, if You had not guided us, we would not have found the way, nor would we have given charity, nor prayed. So send down Your mercy upon us. These people (i.e., the people of Makkah) did not accept our word (i.e., did not believe), and in another narration, it is mentioned that the chiefs did not accept our word. When they want to speak of corruption (i.e., shirk and disbelief, etc.), we do not join them in it, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would say this in a loud voice.

Narrated from Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, that on the day of the Battle of the Trench, the companions of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, were reciting this rajaz: "We are those who have pledged allegiance to Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, for Islam or for jihad (struggle), (and we will continue) as long as we are alive." And the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, was reciting this rajaz: "O Allah! The real goodness is the goodness of the Hereafter, so forgive the Ansar and the Muhajirin."