Two Who Prayed for the Same Death

ʿAbdullāh ibn Jaḥsh, may Allah be pleased with him, and Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ met before the battle. ʿAbdullāh ibn Jaḥsh said, "Let us go and make duʿāʾ" — one of them would make duʿāʾ, and the other would say Āmīn. Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ made his duʿāʾ first. He said, "O Allah, if I meet the enemy, enable me to meet a strong fighter who will fight me, and I will fight him, and give me victory over him, and enable me to kill him and take his equipment." A soldier would usually want to find an easy target, someone weak — but Saʿd said, no, he wanted to meet a strong fighter, the best of them. ʿAbdullāh ibn Jaḥsh said, "Āmīn." Then it was his turn to make duʿāʾ. ʿAbdullāh ibn Jaḥsh said, "O Allah, enable me to meet a strong fighter who would fight me and I would fight him, and then let him kill me and cut my nose and ear, so that when I meet You, You will say, 'Why were your ear and nose cut off?', and I will say, 'For You and Your Messenger,' and You will say I am speaking the truth." Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ said "Āmīn."

Saʿd, narrating the story to his son, said, "O my son, the duʿāʾ of ʿAbdullāh was better than mine. By the end of the day, I saw his nose and ear tied to a string." Allah accepted the duʿāʾ of ʿAbdullāh ibn Jaḥsh — he did meet the strong man who fought him and killed him, and his body was mutilated: his nose was cut, and his ears were cut, and tied together in a string, and Saʿd saw that string with his own eyes. This duʿāʾ shows that it is allowed to ask Allah to give you death in His path, if it is feasible.