Lofty Rank in the eyes of the Holy Prophet (sa)
After the conquest of Mecca, the Holy Prophet (sa) sent some delegations to various locations. Hazrat Khalid (ra) bin Waleed was sent to the Banu Jazima. During the period of jahiliyyah [era of ignorance prior to the advent of the Holy Prophet (sa)], the Banu Jazima had killed Auf, the father of Hazrat Abdur Rahman (ra) bin Auf and also Fakih bin Mughira, who was the paternal uncle of Hazrat Khalid (ra) bin Waleed. During this visit, out of error, Hazrat Khalid (ra) bin Waleed killed one of the men from that tribe. When the Holy Prophet (sa) learnt of this news, he expressed his displeasure. The Holy Prophet (sa) paid the blood-money and also compensated for everything that Hazrat Khalid (ra) had taken from him. When Hazrat Abdur Rahman (ra) bin Auf found out about this act of Hazrat Khalid(ra) bin Waleed, he said to him i.e. Hazrat Abdur Rahman(ra) bin Auf said to Hazrat Khalid(ra) bin Waleed, “‘Did you kill him because they had killed your paternal uncle?’ Hazrat Khalid(ra) bin Waleed replied in a rather stern tone, ‘They also killed your father!’ Hazrat Khalid (ra) bin Waleed further stated, ‘You wish to prolong those days’”, i.e. Hazrat Khalid (ra) bin Waleed claimed that since Hazrat Abdur Rahman (ra) bin Auf had accepted Islam in the very early days, therefore he considered this a great honour and wished to take advantage of this honour. “Hazrat Khalid (ra) bin Waleed said this in a tone of anger and displeasure, and so this news also reached the Holy Prophet (sa). When the Holy Prophet (sa) heard this, he stated, ‘Leave my Companions alone. I swear by Him in Whose hands lies my life that even if anyone amongst you was to spend gold [in the way of God Almighty] equivalent to the size of the mountain of Uhud, it will still be less than their smallest of sacrifices of these individuals.’” In other words, such was the lofty rank of those early companions, whose sacrifices are incomparable.
(Roshan Sitarey az Ghulam Bari Saif Sahib, Vol. 2, pp. 108-109) (Usdul Ghabah, Vol. 3, p. 479, Abdur Rahman bin Auf, Dar-ul-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah, Beirut)