3 of 3 · 12 AH / 633 CE · the Wars of the Apostasy · Al-Yamamah, central Arabia
Salim, freed man of Abu Hudhayfah رضي الله عنه
The Banner at Yamamah
In the caliphate of Abu Bakr, the Muslims fought the army of the false prophet Musaylimah at al-Yamamah. The battle was among the hardest ever fought, and many of the Qur'an's reciters fell in it.
Salim carried a banner of the Muhajirun. It is reported that when he was told the Muslims feared an attack from his side, he replied that he would be a poor bearer of the Qur'an if the enemy came at them from where he stood. He held his ground until he was killed. Abu Hudhayfah fell beside him in the same battle.
Later, 'Umar is reported to have said, near his own death, that had Salim been alive he would have entrusted the matter of the caliphate to him. The respect of the second caliph for a freed Persian man shows the place Islam gave him.
Faithfulness at the post one is given is a form of worship.
What is the post you have been given, and do you hold it?
- Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-KubraHistorical report
- Ibn Kathir, al-Bidayah wa'l-NihayahHistorical report
- Musnad Ahmad (report of 'Umar on Salim)Grade not recorded here
- al-Dhahabi, Siyar A'lam al-Nubala'Historical 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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