1 of 2 · c. 3-10 AH · Madinah · Madinah
Usamah ibn Zayd رضي الله عنه
On the Prophet's Knee
Usamah was born in Makkah to Zayd and Umm Ayman, in the early years of Islam, and grew up in the Prophet's ﷺ household. He was so dear to him that he was called the beloved son of the beloved.
Usamah himself reported that the Prophet ﷺ would take him and set him on one thigh, and set al-Hasan on the other, then embrace them both and say, "O Allah, have mercy on them, for I have mercy on them" (Sahih al-Bukhari 6003).
Even in this closeness the Prophet ﷺ taught him properly. When Usamah once tried to intercede for a woman who had stolen, the Prophet ﷺ rebuked him and asked whether he was interceding in a matter of Allah's limits (Sahih al-Bukhari 3475).
Love and discipline belong together; the Prophet ﷺ gave both to those closest to him.
Can you love someone and still hold them to what is right?
- Sahih al-Bukhari 6003 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih al-Bukhari 3475 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih Muslim 1688 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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