2 of 2 · 11 AH / 632 CE · the Prophet's final illness · Madinah and al-Jurf
Usamah ibn Zayd رضي الله عنه
The Last Army
In the last weeks of his life the Prophet ﷺ prepared an army to march toward the Byzantine border, where Usamah's father Zayd had fallen at Mu'tah. He appointed Usamah, who was still a young man, as its commander, over senior Companions.
Some people criticised the appointment. The Prophet ﷺ answered from the pulpit that if they criticised Usamah's command they had criticised his father's before him; by Allah, Zayd had been fit to lead and among the dearest to him, and this son was among the dearest after him (Sahih al-Bukhari 4469).
When the Prophet ﷺ died the army had not yet left. Some Companions suggested cancelling it given the dangers facing Madinah, but Abu Bakr refused to undo what the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had ordered. The army set out and returned safely.
Capability can be found in the young, and a decision of the Prophet ﷺ is carried out even in a crisis.
Whom do you overlook because they seem too young or too new?
- Sahih al-Bukhari 4469 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih al-Bukhari 3730 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- al-Tabari, Tarikh al-Rusul wa'l-MulukHistorical report
- Ibn Kathir, al-Bidayah wa'l-NihayahHistorical 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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