Signs & Miracles · Help Sent in Battle

The promise made under siege

Handle with care. Do not say it is in Bukhari. State the collection you are citing, and its grading, out loud.

In short

• 1.Madinah was under siege by a coalition. They were digging a trench and tying stones to their stomachs from hunger.
• 2.At that moment he announced that they had been given the keys of Persia, Syria and Yemen.
• 3.Within roughly two decades, all three had come under Muslim rule.
• 4.It is reported by al-Nasa'i and Ahmad and graded good to sound by later scholars — not in the two strictest collections. Say that when you use it.

The claim being examined

While digging a defensive trench around Madinah, starving and surrounded, the Prophet told the companions they would be given the treasures of Persia, Syria and Yemen.

The Islamic position

Within about twenty years those territories were under Muslim rule. Cite the collection and grading honestly: this is reported by al-Nasa'i and Ahmad rather than by Bukhari or Muslim.

Analysis

The report appears in Sunan al-Nasa'i and Musnad Ahmad from al-Bara' ibn Azib in the context of the Battle of the Trench (5 AH), and is graded hasan or sahih by later hadith scholars. The historical fulfilment is not contested: Sasanian Persia falls by the 640s CE, Byzantine Syria by 636-638 CE, and Yemen enters Muslim rule during the Prophet's own lifetime and immediately after. The apologetic weight depends on the early dating of the report, so the honest presentation states the collection and the grading rather than implying Bukhari or Muslim.

From the Sunnah

Sources

Al-Nasa'i, al-Sunan · Ahmad ibn Hanbal, al-Musnad · Sunan al-Nasa'i 3176; Musnad Ahmad

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