2 of 3 · 8 AH · before the conquest of Makkah · Madinah
'Amr ibn al-'As رضي الله عنه
The Hand He Withdrew
'Amr later described his own life in three stages. In the first, he was the most severe enemy of the Prophet ﷺ, and had he died then, he would have been among the people of the Fire. After Allah placed Islam in his heart, he went to the Prophet ﷺ, to pledge.
He said, "Give me your right hand so that I may pledge." The Prophet ﷺ held out his hand, but 'Amr drew his own back. The Prophet ﷺ asked what the matter was. 'Amr said, "I want to make a condition." "What condition?" "That I be forgiven." The Prophet ﷺ said: "Do you not know that Islam wipes out what came before it, and that the Hijrah wipes out what came before it, and that the Hajj wipes out what came before it?"
After that, 'Amr said, no one was dearer to him than the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and none was greater in his eyes. He could not even look at him fully out of reverence, and so, he admitted, he could not describe his face accurately. The reports in the biographies add that on the way he met Khalid ibn al-Walid and 'Uthman ibn Talhah, who were also coming to accept Islam.
No past is so heavy that Allah's forgiveness cannot lift it, and honesty about one's past is where repentance begins.
What part of your past do you still think you need a special condition to leave behind?
- Sahih Muslim 121 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Ibn Hisham, al-Sirah al-NabawiyyahHistorical report
- Ibn Hajar, al-Isabah fi Tamyiz al-SahabahHistorical report
What the hadith grades mean
- Sahih (authentic): an unbroken chain of trustworthy, precise narrators, free of hidden flaws or contradiction. It is acted upon.
- Hasan (good): like sahih, but a narrator's precision is slightly lighter. It is also accepted and acted upon. "Hasan sahih" means it reaches sahih by its routes.
- Da'if (weak): a break in the chain or a narrator who is not reliable enough. It is not used to establish beliefs or rulings.
- Very weak (munkar, matruk): a seriously flawed chain or a narrator accused of lying. It is not relied on at all.
- Mawdu' (fabricated): falsely attributed to the Prophet ﷺ. It may not be narrated as his words except to warn against it.
- The two Sahihs: every hadith with a full chain in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim is accepted as sahih by the scholars of hadith.
- Historical report: biographies and histories (Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabari) record events with chains that are often incomplete. They are used for the story, not for rulings.
- Hadith scholars grade a narration; the four madhhabs do not. Where a hadith carries a ruling, the page shows which schools act on it.
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