His Father at Uhud, and the Debts

Jabir's father, 'Abdullah ibn 'Amr, had a presentiment before Uhud that he would be among the first to fall, and he told his son to take care of his sisters and to pay his debts. He was martyred in the battle, and Jabir wept for him, while the Prophet ﷺ told him that the angels were shading his father with their wings (Sahih al-Bukhari 1244; Sahih Muslim 2471).

Left with sisters and a large debt, Jabir went to the Prophet ﷺ for help, since his creditors were pressing. The Prophet ﷺ walked around the heaps of dates, prayed for blessing, and sat on the largest. Jabir paid all the creditors and the dates left were as many as at the beginning.

The Prophet's gentleness with an orphaned young man gave him lasting comfort, and Jabir's attachment to him deepened.

01Why it matters

Faithfulness to a parent's trust, even in hardship, draws Allah's help from unexpected places.

02Reflection

What responsibility left to you by someone else are you still carrying faithfully?

03Sources

Sahih al-Bukhari 1244 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
Sahih Muslim 2471Sahih · in the two Sahihs
Sahih al-Bukhari, Kitab al-Buyu' (the dates and the debts)Sahih · in the two Sahihs

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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