The virtues of Ammar bin Yasir (may Allah be pleased with him) and his family

Muhammad bin Ishaq said: Sayyiduna Ammar bin Yasir (may Allah be pleased with him), his father and his mother were all of them a household of Islam.

Ibn Hisham said: Sayyiduna Ammar bin Yasir bin Abs bin Zayd bin Madhhij had the honour of taking part in the Battle of Badr and in all the other battles. According to one view, his mother's name was Sayyidah Sumayyah bint Salam bin Lakhm (may Allah be pleased with her). The kunyah of Sayyiduna Ammar (may Allah be pleased with him) was "Abu al-Yaqzan". He was martyred in 37 AH at the Battle of Siffin, fighting on the side of Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him).
Al-Tabarani recorded it, and its narrators up to the one who said it are thiqat (trustworthy).

Ata' bin Abi Rabah said: Sayyiduna Abu Salamah (may Allah be pleased with him) and Sayyidah Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her) set out to emigrate, and Sayyiduna Ammar bin Yasir (may Allah be pleased with him) went with them as well; he was an ally of theirs.
Al-Tabarani recorded it; its chain contains Umar bin Qays al-Makki, who is matruk (abandoned).

Sa'id bin Abi Maryam said: I said to Attaf bin Khalid: What do you say, was Sayyiduna Ammar bin Yasir (may Allah be pleased with him) an ally of yours? He replied: Rather, he is our mawla (client).
Al-Tabarani recorded it, and its chain is munqati' (broken); its chain contains Attaf, about whom there is disagreement.

Abu Ka'b al-Harithi narrated that he came to Sayyiduna Uthman al-Ghani (may Allah be pleased with him). Meanwhile a bald man of wheat complexion came, who had a few hairs on the front of his head. I asked: Who is this? The people said: This is Sayyiduna Ammar bin Yasir (may Allah be pleased with him).
Al-Tabarani recorded it; its chain contains Ziyad bin Jabal, and al-Dhahabi said: He is majhul (unknown).

Kulayb bin Manfa'ah narrates from his father: "I saw Sayyiduna Ammar (may Allah be pleased with him) at al-Kunasah; he was dark-skinned and had curly hair, and he was reciting this verse: 'And among His signs is that He created you from dust, and then you became human beings (that is, mankind) spreading out.'"
Al-Tabarani recorded it; its chain contains Yahya al-Himmani, who is da'if (weak).

Abdullah bin Salamah said: At the Battle of Siffin I saw Sayyiduna Ammar bin Yasir (may Allah be pleased with him); he was a tall man of wheat complexion, and he had a spear in his hand.
Al-Tabarani recorded it, and its chain is hasan (good).

Mutarrif said: I came to Sayyiduna Ammar bin Yasir (may Allah be pleased with him), and with him was a tailor who was cutting cloth, laying it on a sheet of tha'alib (perhaps meaning a fox-skin rug).
Al-Tabarani recorded it, and its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih.

Tariq bin Shihab said: A man said to Sayyiduna Ammar bin Yasir (may Allah be pleased with him): O you of the cut-off limb! The ears of Sayyiduna Ammar (may Allah be pleased with him) had been cut off while he was with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Sayyiduna Ammar bin Yasir (may Allah be pleased with him) said to him: It is the better of my ears that you have reviled.
Al-Tabarani recorded it from his teacher al-Miqdam bin Dawud, who is da'if (weak); Ibn Daqiq al-Id said: He has, however, been declared trustworthy. The rest of its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy).

Abdullah bin Salamah said: Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) met two men who had come out of the bathhouse and had oiled themselves. Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) asked: Who are you two? They replied: We belong to the Muhajirun. Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: You are both lying. You two belong to the Muhajirun? The Muhajir is only Ammar bin Yasir.
Al-Tabarani recorded it, and its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih.

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Ja'far (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I have not seen anyone like Sayyiduna Ammar bin Yasir (may Allah be pleased with him) and Sayyiduna Muhammad bin Abi Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him). Neither of them would like to disobey Allah Almighty even for the blink of an eye, and neither of them would oppose the truth even by a hair's breadth.
Al-Tabarani recorded it; its chain contains Ahmad bin al-Hajjaj bin al-Salt, who is da'if (weak).

Salim bin Abi al-Ja'd said: Sayyiduna Uthman al-Ghani (may Allah be pleased with him) summoned some of the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), among whom was Sayyiduna Ammar bin Yasir (may Allah be pleased with him). Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I am about to ask you something, and I would like you to confirm what I say. I ask you by Allah: do you know that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to give Quraysh preference over all other people, and give Banu Hashim preference over all the rest of Quraysh? The whole gathering fell silent. Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) said: If the keys of Paradise were in my hand, I would have given them to Banu Umayyah, until every last one of them had entered Paradise. Then he sent for Sayyiduna Talhah and Sayyiduna al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with them both), and Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Shall I tell you two about him? Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) meant Sayyiduna Ammar (may Allah be pleased with him). (Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) said:) Once I was coming along with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him); the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was holding my hand, and we were walking in al-Batha'. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) passed by Ammar's father, his mother and Ammar himself, who were being tortured. Ammar's father said: O Messenger of Allah, will it always be like this? The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: Be patient! Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "O Allah, forgive the family of Yasir, and indeed You have already done so."
Ahmad recorded it, and its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih.

Sayyiduna Uthman al-Ghani (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say to Ammar's father, Ammar's mother and Ammar: "O family of Yasir, be patient; Paradise is promised to you."
Al-Tabarani recorded it, and its chain contains narrators whom I do not know.

Sayyiduna Ammar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "O family of Yasir, be patient; Paradise is promised to you."
Al-Tabarani recorded it, and its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) passed by Sayyiduna Ammar bin Yasir (may Allah be pleased with him) and his family, who were being tortured in the way of Allah, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "O family of Yasir, receive the glad tidings that Paradise is promised to you."
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat, and its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih, except Ibrahim bin Abd al-Aziz al-Muqawwim, and he is thiqah (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Ammar bin Yasir (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Once the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was lying with his head in the lap of Sayyiduna Ammar (may Allah be pleased with him). Meanwhile a man came in and asked: What are the polytheists saying about him now? He meant Sayyiduna Ammar (may Allah be pleased with him). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) took his blessed hand behind him, placed it on the back of Sayyiduna Ammar (may Allah be pleased with him) and encircled him with his arm, while his head (peace and blessings be upon him) was in his lap at that time. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "These people are going to dye a pure hide red (that is, with blood)."
Al-Tabarani recorded it; its chain contains Ya'qub bin Humayd bin Kasib, who has been declared both trustworthy and weak, and the rest of its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih.

Al-Hasan said: Sayyiduna Ammar (may Allah be pleased with him) used to say: I fought against jinn and humans alongside the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent me to the well of Badr, and I met a devil in human form. He wrestled with me and I threw him down, and I began to pound him with a stone I had with me. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Ammar has encountered a devil at the well, and Ammar fought him. The narrator said: Then I came back and told the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) about it, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: That was the devil.
Al-Tabarani recorded it from his teacher Ya'qub bin Ishaq al-Makhrami, whom I do not know; its chain contains al-Hakam bin Atiyyah, about whom there is disagreement, and the rest of its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih.

Sayyiduna Khalid bin al-Walid (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Once a dispute arose between me and Ammar over something, and I spoke harshly to him. Ammar went to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to complain about me. Meanwhile Sayyiduna Khalid (may Allah be pleased with him) also went to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him); he too wanted to complain to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) about Sayyiduna Ammar (may Allah be pleased with him). Sayyiduna Khalid (may Allah be pleased with him) said: He spoke to Ammar even more harshly, while the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) remained silent. Sayyiduna Ammar (may Allah be pleased with him) began to weep and said: O Messenger of Allah, do you not see? The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) raised his blessed head and said: "Whoever bears enmity towards Ammar, Allah Almighty will bear enmity towards him, and whoever hates Ammar, Allah Almighty will hate him." Sayyiduna Khalid (may Allah be pleased with him) said: When I left there, nothing was dearer to me than the good pleasure of Sayyiduna Ammar (may Allah be pleased with him). I met him, and he became pleased.
Ahmad and al-Tabarani recorded it, and its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih.

Sayyiduna Khalid bin al-Walid (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I have not done any deed about which I fear that it will make me enter Hell, except for the matter that took place concerning Ammar. We asked: O Abu Sulayman, what is that matter? Sayyiduna Khalid (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent me with some of his Companions to one of the tribes of the Arabs. I attacked them, and in that tribe there were also some Muslim households. Sayyiduna Ammar (may Allah be pleased with him) spoke to me about those people and said: Release them. I said: That will not happen until I take them to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him); if the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) wishes, he will release them, and if he wishes, he will deal with them however he wishes. Sayyiduna Khalid (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), then Sayyiduna Ammar (may Allah be pleased with him) also asked permission to enter, and he came in. He said: O Messenger of Allah, have you not seen? Sayyiduna Khalid (may Allah be pleased with him) has done such-and-such. Sayyiduna Khalid (may Allah be pleased with him) said: By Allah, were it not for your gathering, the son of Sumayyah (that is, Sayyiduna Ammar (may Allah be pleased with him)) could not have reviled me. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: O Ammar, go outside. He went out weeping and said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not help me against Sayyiduna Khalid (may Allah be pleased with him). (Sayyiduna Khalid (may Allah be pleased with him) said:) The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked me: Why did you not answer him? I replied: O Messenger of Allah, I did not do so only because I held him in contempt. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever looks down on Ammar, Allah Almighty will look down on him; whoever reviles Ammar, Allah Almighty will revile him; and whoever belittles Ammar, Allah Almighty will belittle him." Sayyiduna Khalid (may Allah be pleased with him) said: So I came out and went after Sayyiduna Ammar until he prayed for my forgiveness. In one narration the words are: "Whoever bears enmity towards Ammar, Allah Almighty will bear enmity towards him."
Al-Tabarani recorded it with various chains, in long and short versions; some of its chains agree with the chain of Ahmad, and its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy), and some of these narrations are mursal.

(This is not in the book.)

In al-Mu'jam al-Awsat, these words of this narration are mentioned: "Whoever reviles Ammar, Allah Almighty will revile him, and whoever hates Ammar, Allah Almighty will hate him." Its chain contains more than one narrator about whom there is disagreement.

Al-Hasan said: Sayyiduna Amr bin al-As (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "We hold that when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) passed away, Allah Almighty would not enter into Hell any man whom he loved at that time. It was said to him: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) appointed you too as a governor (that is, as commander of an army). He said: Allah knows best, but the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) loved one man. The people asked: Who is he? Sayyiduna Amr bin al-As (may Allah be pleased with him) replied: Ammar bin Yasir.
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat and al-Mu'jam al-Kabir, and in it he added these words: "Someone said: He was the one who was killed at your hands at the Battle of Siffin. Sayyiduna Amr bin al-As (may Allah be pleased with him) said: By Allah, we did indeed kill him." A hadith of this kind has already passed in the chapter on the virtue of Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him), in which it is mentioned that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) loved Sayyiduna Ammar (may Allah be pleased with him) and Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him). The narrators of Ahmad are the narrators of the Sahih.

Sayyidah Aishah al-Siddiqah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "How many a person with two small worn cloaks, who has no proper clothing, yet if he were to swear an oath by the name of Allah, Allah Almighty would fulfil it for him; and among them is Ammar bin Yasir."
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat; its chain contains Isa bin Qirtas, who is matruk (abandoned).

Sa'id bin Abd al-Aziz said: On the day of the Battle of Uhud, Sayyiduna Ammar bin Yasir (may Allah be pleased with him) swore an oath and the polytheists were routed, and on the day of the Battle of the Camel he swore an oath and the people of Basrah were overcome. On the day of Siffin it was said to him: It would be fitting if you swore an oath. Sayyiduna Ammar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Even if they strike at us with their swords (that is, push us back) until they take us to the place called "Sa'afat Hajar", we would still know that we are on the truth and they are on falsehood. So Sayyiduna Ammar (may Allah be pleased with him) did not swear an oath, and he was martyred that very day. On the day of Uhud he had said: "O Jibril and O Mikal, I swear that a band of misguided people will never overcome us; indeed we are on the truth and they are ignorant people." And he went on until he broke through the ranks of the polytheists.
Al-Tabarani recorded it; it is munqati' (broken) in its chain, and its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih.

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whenever two different matters were put before the son of Sumayyah (that is, Sayyiduna Ammar bin Yasir), he always chose the one of the two that was more rightly guided (that is, the wiser)."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whenever two matters were put before the son of Sumayyah (Sayyiduna Ammar bin Yasir, may Allah be pleased with them both), he always chose of the two the one with more guidance and rightness, the correct path."

Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "The blood of Ammar and his flesh: it is forbidden for the Fire to consume them."
Al-Bazzar recorded it, and its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy); some of its narrators have a weakness that does no harm.

Sayyidah Aishah al-Siddiqah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: About any one of the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), if I wished, I could say something, except for Sayyiduna Ammar (may Allah be pleased with him), for I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "He is filled with faith to the ends of his bones."
Al-Bazzar recorded it, and its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih.

Bilal bin Yahya said: When Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) was killed, a man came to Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) and said to him: O Abu Abdullah, this man has been killed, and people differ about it. Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Prop me up! So a man propped him up against his chest, and Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "Abu al-Yaqzan is upon the fitrah (natural disposition); he will not abandon it until he dies, unless old age overtakes him, in which case the matter is different."
Al-Bazzar recorded it, and al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat in abridged form; the narrators of both narrations are thiqat (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "After me, follow these two people, Abu Bakr and Umar; seek guidance through the guidance of Ammar; and hold firmly to the covenant of Ibn Umm Abd (that is, Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud)."
(Allamah al-Haythami says:) I say: Al-Tirmidhi recorded only this part of it: "After me, follow two people, Abu Bakr and Umar." Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat; its chain contains Yahya bin Abd al-Hamid al-Himmani, who is da'if (weak).