‘Uqba b. ‘Amir told that he heard God's Messenger say when he was on the pulpit, “Prepare for them as much strength as you can. Strength is shooting; strength is shooting; strength is shooting.”
Ibn ‘A’idh told that God’s Messenger went out to a man’s funeral, and when he was laid down ‘Umar b. al-Khattab said, "Do not pray over him, Messenger of God, for he was a wicked man. Thereupon God’s Messenger turned to the people and asked whether any of them has seen him engaged in anything which indicated that he was a Muslim, and when a man replied, "Yes, Messenger of God, he acted as guard one night in God's path,” he prayed over him, scattered dust over him, and then said, "Your companions think you are one of those who go to hell, but I testify that you are one of those who go to paradise.” He then said, "You will not be questioned, ‘Umar, about what people have done, but you will be questioned about the true religion.”*
* This is taken to mean that he will not be questioned about acts of disobedience, but about indication that one is a Muslim.
He told that he heard God's Messenger say, “The Byzantines will be defeated at your hands and God will defend you, but let none of you be so careless as not to employ his arrows.”*
* i.e. they must not neglect to practise archery. The idea is that although God defends them, this does not absolve them from effort.
Narrated ‘Utba b. ‘Abd as-Sulami reported God’s Messenger as saying, “The slain are of three types:
(1) a believer who strives with his property and person in God’s path and when he meets the enemy fights till he is killed. (Of him the Prophet said that that martyr who has suffered trial is in God's tent under- His Throne and is not excelled by the prophets except in the degree of the prophetic office.) (2) A believer who mingles a good deed with another which is evil, who fights with his person and property in God’s path, fighting till he is killed when he meets the enemy. (Of him the Prophet said that it is a cleansing agent which has obliterated his sins and his errors, for the sword obliterates errors, and he will be introduced by whichever of the gates of paradise he wishes.) (3) A hypocrite who strives with his person and property, and when he meets the enemy fights till he is killed; but that one will go to hell, for the sword does not obliterate hypocrisy.”
