The False Rumor of the Prophet's Death and Anas ibn al-Nadr's Stand

Shaykh Yasir Qadhi explains:

Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr shared the Prophet's (ﷺ) complexion and, according to some reports, somewhat resembled him in facial features; he may also have been wearing a cloak borrowed from the Prophet (ﷺ). When ʿAbdullāh ibn Qamiʾah, the same man who had struck the Prophet's helmet earlier, killed Muṣʿab in the chaos, he assumed he had killed the Prophet (ﷺ) himself. He began shouting across the battlefield: "Qataltu Muḥammadan!, I have killed Muḥammad!" The claim spread like wildfire through both armies.

This false rumor, though devastating to Muslim morale in the moment, proved providential. When it reached the Quraysh, it removed their remaining incentive to continue fighting, no one wishes to risk death once the objective is believed achieved. This was a significant factor in most of the Qurayshi army (by this point at least 80%) withdrawing, leaving only Khālid's contingent still engaged.

Among the Muslims, however, the news caused despair. Many wandered aimlessly or threw down their weapons. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī preserves the most famous response to this moment: that of Anas ibn al-Naḍr, the paternal uncle of Anas ibn Mālik. Passing a group of Ṣaḥābah who had stopped fighting, he asked why. They told him the Prophet (ﷺ) had been killed. He replied: "Even if the Prophet (ﷺ) has been killed, then the Lord of Muḥammad has not been killed! And what will you do with your life now that the Prophet is dead? Let us go and die as he died."

He then encountered his close friend Saʿd ibn Muʿādh and said: "O Saʿd, verily I can smell the fragrance of Jannah coming from behind that mountain." He then made duʿāʾ: seeking Allah's forgiveness for the failures of the Muslims, those who had disobeyed the Prophet's command, abandoned their posts, or fled, while explicitly dissociating himself from the deeds of the Quraysh. He then threw himself into the fighting with such ferocity that his body sustained more than eighty separate wounds, becoming entirely unrecognizable. His body was only identified afterward when his sister recognized him by his fingertips.

Allah (subḥānahu wa taʿālā) revealed concerning men of his character, in Sūrat al-Aḥzāb (33:23): "Minal-muʾminīna rijālun ṣadaqū mā ʿāhadū-llāha ʿalayh, Among the believers are men who have been true to what they promised Allah."