2 of 4 · 8 AH / 630 CE · Al-Huraqat, in the territory of Juhaynah
Usamah ibn Zayd رضي الله عنه
'Did You Split Open His Heart?'
While still a youth, Usamah went out in a raiding party to al-Huraqat. He and an Ansari man caught up with a fleeing enemy, and as they raised their weapons the man said, "La ilaha illa Allah." The Ansari held back; Usamah struck and killed him.
When the news reached the Prophet ﷺ he asked Usamah whether he had killed him after he had said it. Usamah replied that the man had said it only to save himself. The Prophet ﷺ kept repeating, "Did you kill him after he said La ilaha illa Allah?" until Usamah wished that he had not become a Muslim before that day, so that he could have entered Islam only now (Sahih al-Bukhari 4269; Sahih Muslim 96).
In another narration the Prophet ﷺ asked, "Did you split open his heart to know whether he said it from his heart?" Usamah never forgot the lesson, and later refused to fight in the strife among Muslims.
We judge by what people say, and entrust their hearts to Allah.
When do you assume the worst about the sincerity of someone's words?
- Sahih al-Bukhari 4269 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih Muslim 96 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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