The Sword of the Holy Prophet (sa) (II)
Another incident, which is found among the narrations about him is that when the Holy Prophet (sa), at one occasion, raised his sword and asked, “Who will put this sword to its rightful use, today?” It was Hazrat Abu Dujana Ansari (ra), who came forward upon hearing this. He said, “I promise to fulfil the right of this sword.” The Holy Prophet (sa), seeing his passion, handed his sword over to him. Then, he gathered the courage once again and asked, “O Messenger (sa) of Allah! How shall the right of this sword be fulfilled?” The Holy Prophet (sa) replied: “This sword shall not cause the bloodshed of any Muslim. secondly, the enemy from among the disbelievers shall not escape from it.”
(Sahih Muslim, kitab fazail al-sahaba, bab min fadhl abu dujana(ra), hadith 6353) (kanzul ‘ummal, vol. 4, p. 339, hadith 10792, moaissisatur-risalah, beirut 1985)
It was only to be used against those enemies from among the disbelievers who sought to wage war against the Muslims. He then took this sword and marched onto the battlefield with great pride and honour. Upon this, the Holy Prophet (sa) said: “Usually, Allah the exalted dislikes such an expression of arrogance. however, today, Allah the exalted greatly liked the manner in which Abu Dujana marched onto the battlefield.”
(Usdul Ghabah, vol. 6, p. 93, abu dujana, darul kutub al-‘ilmiyah, beirut 1996)