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The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) dispatched Usāmah ibn Zayd in a detachment to Al-Huraqah, a sub-tribe of Juhaynah. When they reached the idolaters and overtook them, a man from the idolaters escaped. Usāmah and a man from the Ansār chased him in order to kill him, and when they reached him, the man said: "There is no god but Allah." The Ansasri man left him when he said that. Usāmah, on the other hand, killed him. When they returned to Madīnah, and the news reached the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) he asked Usāmah: "Did you kill him after he had said There is no god but Allah?" Usāmah said: "Yes, O Messenger of Allah, He only said it to save himself from being killed." The Prophet repeated the question: "Did you kill him after he had said There is no god but Allah?" Usāmah said: "Yes, he only said it to save himself from being killed. He brought harm to the Muslims and killed so and so of them." The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: "Did you split open his heart to verify his intention? What would you do with (his statement) 'there is no god but Allah' when it comes on the Day of Judgment? Who will intercede for you, speak on your behalf and argue your case when the word of monotheism is brought and it is said to you: 'How could you kill someone who proclaimed it?'" Usāmah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "I wished I had not embraced Islam before that day", because if he were a disbeliever who had just embraced Islam, Allah would pardon him. However he committed this act while he was a Muslim.
