AllÄh the Mighty say:
You killed them not, but Allah killed them. And you (Muhammad peace be upon him) threw not when you did throw but Allah threw, that He might test the believers by a fair trial from Him. Verily, Allah is All-Hearer, All-Knower. (Surah Al AnfÄl: 17)
The Prophet (peace be upon him) went to many expeditions, however, Al ImÄm ibn Taymiyyah while refuting the Shi’a’s false statement "Aliy as the bravest person," he said:
“The Prophet (peace be upon him) did not kill anyone with his hand except Ubayy bn Khalaf and he neither kill anyone before him nor after him. Yet, he was braver than all of the Companions .'' (MinhÄj As Sunnah An Nabawiyyah fi KalÄm As Shi'ah wal Qadariyyah 8/77-78)
How It Happened
During the battle of Uhud... when they got close to the mountain, Ubayy ibn Khalaf who was on a horse of his whose name was al-‘Iwadh, caught up with the Messenger of AllÄh (peace be upon him). The enemy of AllÄh had claimed that he would kill the Messenger of AllÄh (peace be upon him) whilst riding this horse. When he got close to him, the Messenger of AllÄh (peace be upon him) took a spear from al-HÄrith ibn al-Simmah and killed him with it. It hit him in his collarbone and the enemy of AllÄh retreated in defeat. The mushrikÄ«n said to him, By AllÄh, there is nothing wrong with you. He said, By AllÄh if what is wrong with me had happened to the family of Dhu’l-MajÄz, they would all have died. He used to feed his horse in Makkah and say, I will kill Muhammad riding it. News of that reached the Messenger of AllÄh (peace be upon him) and he said: “Rather I will kill him insha AllÄh.†When he stabbed him, the enemy of AllÄh remembered that the Prophet (peace be upon him) had said, “Rather I will kill him,†and he was certain that he would die from this wound. And he died from it in Sarif on his way back to Makkah.
The story was mentioned in SÄ«rah ibn HishÄm 3/94, DalÄil an Nubuwah of Abu Nua'aym Al AsfahÄny 2/488, DalÄil an Nubuwah lil Bayhaqy 3/211, Al JÄmi' Al AhkÄm al Qur'Än 7/278 , ZÄd al Ma'Äd fi HÄdiy Khayril 'IbÄd 2/134, Ar Rawdhu al Anfu fit TafsÄ«r SÄ«rah an Nabawiyyah ibn HishÄm 3/270, Al BidÄyah wa An NihÄyah 4/33, TafsÄ«r ibn KathÄ«r 2/1286, Al FusÅ«l fi SÄ«rah ar RasÅ«l of ibn KathÄ«r p. 66, Tasliyah al KadhÄ«m 4/176, and GhazawÄt ar RasÅ«l pp. 120-121.
Ash-Shaykh Shu'ayb Al ArnaÅ«t graded the story Mursal in his verification of ZÄd Al Ma'Äd 3/178.
In the verification (3/165) of Yahyah bn Muhammad and Mas'ûd bn KÄmil under the supervision of Ash Shaykh Mustafa al 'Adawy, they added: It is the Mursal of Suday, MujÄhid, Ikrimah, and Muqsim bn Al Musayyab.
I (Abu Sahl) say, there is a strong indication in the statements of Ibn Taymiyyah (as mentioned) and Al ‘AllÄmah Al Ithyiobiy in his Al Bahr (31/310-311) that shows that they consider the narration authentic. AllÄh knows best.
Apart from this, the ghazawÄt fought by the companions, whereby the kufÄr were slained as ordered by the Prophet, except in some cases where he absolved himself such as the case of Usamah bn Zayd and Khalid bn Walid.
May the peace and blessing be upon the Prophet (sallallah 'alayhi wa sallam), his household, Companions, and the entire believers.
