Two Endings: Qazmān and the Best of the Jews

What counts is the end, the last moments in this world — because a person's fate depends on his ending in this world, and Uḥud gives examples of both a good ending and an evil one. Qazmān, one of the men from Madīnah, was not interested in Islam, but when the Muslims went out to fight in the Battle of Uḥud, he joined them. Whenever the name of Qazmān was mentioned before the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), he would say, "He is in the Hellfire." But the Companions saw that he was fighting like a lion, and he killed at least seven disbelievers before he fell due to his wounds, which made some of them sceptical: how could this man go to Hellfire when he had fought so hard? But then some of his own people from Madīnah came to him and said, "Congratulations for being a martyr, for being a shahīd." He said, "Why are you congratulating me for shahādah? I did not fight for the sake of Islam, I fought for the sake of my people." So this man fought with the wrong intention, and then he died and went to Hellfire, because he did not fight fī sabīli Allāh. This is an example of the evil ending.

Mukhayriq was a Jew. He went to his people and told them, "O Jews, you have learned, I swear by Allah, that it is your duty to help Muḥammad to victory." They said, "This is the Sabbath, we are not going to fight." So he left them, and said, "If I should fall, then my wealth goes to Muḥammad, to do with it as he wishes." So not only did he join the Muslims in fighting, he also made his will so that his inheritance would be taken by Muḥammad (peace be upon him) to spend as he wished. Mukhayriq was killed. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) then said, "Mukhayriq is the very best of the Jews." His property, consisting of seven orchards, was converted by the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) into a waqf, a charitable endowment, in Madīnah, and Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī said this was Madīnah's very first waqf.^* The first endowment in Madīnah was that of Mukhayriq the Jew. There is a difference of opinion among the scholars over whether Mukhayriq embraced Islam or died as a Jew, with the majority saying that he did embrace Islam — so when the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said that he is the best of the Jews, it means the best of the Jews as an ethnicity, and not as a religion: he is the best of the Jewish people, but a Muslim in faith. This is an example of a good ending.