3 of 3 · Ramadan 2 AH · March 624 CE · Madinah
Ruqayyah bint Muhammad رضي الله عنها
The News of Badr
When the Prophet ﷺ set out for Badr, Ruqayyah lay seriously ill. He told 'Uthman to stay behind and nurse her, and promised him the reward and the share of a man who had been present at Badr. Years later, when someone used 'Uthman's absence from Badr against him, 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar answered with exactly this (Sahih al-Bukhari 3698).
Ruqayyah died while the army was away. The biographers report that as they were levelling the earth over her grave, Zayd ibn Harithah rode into Madinah announcing the victory. Her father returned to find his daughter already buried.
'Uthman's place at Badr was at his wife's bedside, by the Prophet's own command; caring for the sick can be counted with the greatest of deeds.
Who in your life needs you to stay beside them rather than go somewhere more visible?
- Sahih al-Bukhari 3698 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih al-Bukhari 3130 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-KubraHistorical report
- Ibn Hisham, al-Sirah al-NabawiyyahHistorical 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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