It is as if his skin had been struck with the thorns of the talḥ tree (1) out of cowardice. An errant arrow came to him and killed him, so he is in the second degree. And a believing man who mixed a righteous deed with another evil one met the enemy and was truthful with God until he was killed—that one is in the third degree. And a believing man who was excessive against himself met the enemy and was truthful with God until he was killed—that one is in the fourth degree. (2)

This is a good and strange ḥadīth; we do not know it (3) except from the narration of ʿAṭāʾ ibn Dinār.

I heard Muḥammad saying: Saʿīd ibn Abī Ayyūb did narrate this ḥadīth from ʿAṭāʾ ibn Dinār, from some elders of Khawlān, and he did not mention in it—

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(1) Al-talḥ: a Ḥijāzī tree, its fruit like the fruit of the samurah, having curved thorns, growing in the bottoms of valleys; it is the greatest of the ʿiḍāh trees in thorns, the firmest in wood, and the best of them in gum. So said in "Al-Lisān."

(2) Its chain is weak due to the unknown status of Abū Yazīd al-Khawlānī—the elder—for none heard from him except ʿAṭāʾ ibn Dinār. Saʿīd ibn Abī Ayyūb did follow Ibn Lahīʿah in al-Bukhārī's "Al-Tārīkh," section on kunyas (783), except that he said: "from some elders of Khawlān." It is in "Al-Musnad" (146) and (150), except that in the first place he said: "The martyrs are three… the ḥadīth." See the completion of its takhrīj there. The first and fourth divisions of the martyrs are supported by the ḥadīth of ʿUtbah ibn ʿAbd al-Sulamī in Aḥmad's "Al-Musnad" (17657), which is good as a shāhid. For the first division of the martyrs, there is the ḥadīth of Nuʿaym ibn Hammār in Aḥmad's "Al-Musnad" (22476), and its chain is strong.

(3) In (b) and (s) (ẓ): "it is not known." And in the margin of (ẓ), as confirmed from (a) and (d).