Life event · A few days after the Battle of Khandaq, Year 5 AH
Died of his wounds a few days after the Battle of Khandaq; it is narrated in Bukhari and Muslim that the Throne of the Most Merciful shook at his death.
~5 AH, a few days after the judgment of the Banu Qurayza · 5 AH
Sa'd ibn Mu'adh RA, chieftain of the Aws, was struck during the Battle of Khandaq by an arrow from Hiban ibn al-Ariqah that entered the upper arm beside the neck, exactly where Aisha RA had wished aloud that his armour covered more. He prayed that if the Quraysh would ever fight again he be spared to fight them, and if not, that he be taken as a martyr, but only after his eyes had been comforted by what became of the Banu Qurayza. He was carried to the hospital tent of Rufayda al-Aslamiyyah RA and lay there bleeding through the twenty-five days of the siege of the Banu Qurayza, until the Prophet ﷺ named him judge over them and he was brought on a mule, unable to walk, to pronounce the verdict the Prophet ﷺ called the judgment of Allah from above the seven heavens. He died a few days later, aged thirty-seven.
The Prophet ﷺ said that the Throne of Allah shook at his death, whether in welcome or in anger at his killing, and that the angels prayed over him. When the Companions carried his body they found it strangely light, and the Prophet ﷺ told them that seventy thousand angels who had never before descended to the earth were carrying it with them. At the grave he addressed him: "May Allah reward you from among the leaders of the people; you fulfilled your promise to Allah, and Allah will fulfil His promise to you." As the body was laid down the Prophet ﷺ's face changed and he began repeating subhan Allah, and the whole of al-Baqi' repeated it with him, until he said Allahu akbar. Asked why, he explained that even this righteous servant, for whom the Throne had shaken and the gates of heaven had opened, had been squeezed once in the grave and then released, and that if anyone were to be spared that squeeze it would have been Sa'd. Two years later, when the ruler of Bahrain sent a robe so fine that the Companions crowded round to touch it, the Prophet ﷺ told them that Sa'd's handkerchief in Paradise was better than it. Ibn Ishaq and Ibn Sa'd describe him as tall, broad-shouldered, fair and handsome, with a full beard. He had been among the earliest converts of Madinah at the hands of Mus'ab ibn Umayr, and his whole clan had followed him into Islam.
Outcome: Sa'd ibn Mu'adh RA was buried at al-Baqi'. He is the only person in the Seerah for whom the Prophet ﷺ ordered others to stand in greeting, and the one whose death, the Prophet ﷺ said, shook the Throne of Allah.
The death of the leader of the Aws, the man the Prophet ﷺ trusted to judge the Banu Qurayza, and one of the most honoured of all the Companions in the Prophet ﷺ's own words: the one for whose death the Throne of Allah shook.
Hiban ibn al-Ariqah's arrow at the trench was the wound Sa'd ibn Mu'adh RA died of a few weeks later.
Sa'd ibn Mu'adh RA was carried from his sickbed to pronounce judgment on the Banu Qurayza and died a few days after giving it.
Other events recorded in 5 AH. Their order within the year is not established; use the storyline above for the sequence.
Died of his wounds a few days after the Battle of Khandaq; it is narrated in Bukhari and Muslim that the Throne of the Most Merciful shook at his death.
The angels prayed the funeral prayer over Sa'd ibn Mu'adh, and carried his body up.
Why should it not be light? For verily, 70,000 angels have come down (they have never come down to this earth except for now) and they are carrying his body with you.
Said when the sahaba, carrying Sa'd ibn Mu'adh's body for burial, remarked that they had never carried anyone lighter.
Jazak'Allahu khayran from the leader of the people. You have fulfilled your promise to Allah, and Allah will fulfill His promise to you.
Subhan'Allah, subhan'Allah, subhan'Allah... Allahu'akbar.
Said as Sa'd ibn Mu'adh was placed in his grave; the Prophet ﷺ's face changed color out of sadness, and the whole of Baqi' echoed him.
This righteous servant (for whom the Throne of Allah shook, and the gates of heaven were opened, and who was witnessed by 70,000 angels who have never come down before) has now been squeezed in the grave and then set free. And if anyone were to have been freed from the squeezing of the grave, it would have been Sa'd ibn Mu'adh.
Said in answer to the sahaba's surprise at his shift from Subhan'Allah to Allahu Akbar.