His saying, peace and blessings be upon him, to Usamah ibn Zayd, after he had killed a man who had testified that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah: "Did he say, 'There is no god but Allah,' and you killed him?" He said: I said, "O Messenger of Allah, he only said it out of fear of the weapon." He said: "Did you not split open his heart, so that you might know whether he said it or not?!" Recorded by al-Bukhari (4269) and Muslim (96) from the hadith of Usamah himself. The wording is Muslim's.

As for his saying: "Jihad continues since Allah sent me until the last of my community fights the Dajjal; neither the injustice of an unjust ruler nor the justice of a just ruler can nullify it," there are supporting evidences for it, including his saying, peace and blessings be upon him: "Horses have goodness tied to their forelocks until the Day of Resurrection." It is narrated from the hadith of Abdullah ibn Umar in al-Bukhari (2849) and Muslim (1871), and from the hadith of Urwah ibn al-Ja'd in al-Bukhari (2850) and (2852) and Muslim (1873), who added: "reward and spoils."

Al-Bukhari gave this hadith a chapter heading with his saying: "Jihad continues with the righteous and the wicked." Al-Hafiz said in "al-Fath" 6/56: Imam Ahmad preceded him in using this as evidence, because he gathered the mention of the continued goodness in the forelocks of horses until the Day of Resurrection, and interpreted it as reward and spoils, and spoils coupled with reward can only come from horses through jihad, and this was not restricted to when the ruler is just, which indicates that there is no difference in attaining this virtue between fighting with a just ruler or an unjust one.

Likewise, Ibn Abd al-Barr said in "al-Tamhid" 14/97, mentioning this hadith: A group of scholars have used as evidence that jihad continues until the Day of Resurrection under the banner of every righteous and wicked ruler from among the leaders, based on this hadith, because he said in it: "until the Day of Resurrection," and there is no basis for that except jihad in the path of Allah, for censure has been reported concerning one who ties horses and keeps them for show, pride, and hostility toward the people of Islam. We say: by the hadith of censure, he means the hadith of Abu Hurayrah in al-Bukhari (7356) and Muslim (987), which includes: "And a man who ties it out of pride and show, it is a burden of sin upon him for that."

Also bearing witness to his saying: "Jihad continues" is his saying, peace and blessings be upon him: "A group of my community will not cease fighting for the truth, unharmed by those who oppose them, until the last of them fights the Dajjal." This has already been mentioned by the author from the hadith of Imran ibn Husayn under number (2484), with a sound chain of transmission, and from the hadith of Jabir ibn Abdullah in Muslim (156), the hadith of Jabir ibn Samurah in Muslim as well (1922), and the hadith of Mu'awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan likewise in his collection (1037) (175).

Also bearing witness to it is the hadith of Abu Hurayrah that follows after this. =