A man said to az-Zubair: “Shall I kill `Ali for you?” He said: “How would you kill him?” He said: “I will assassinate him.”He said: “No, the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Faith prohibits assassination; no believer should resort to that.`
It was narrated that az-Zubair bin al-`Awwam (رضي الله عنه) said:
When this surah was revealed to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ): `Verily, you (O Muhammad is) will die, and verily, they (too) will die. Then, on the Day of Resurrection, you will be disputing before your Lord” (az-Zumar [39:30,31]), az-Zubair said: “O Messenger of Allah, will we face again the disputes we had among us in this world in addition to other sins?” He said: “Yes, you will face these disputes again until everyone who has a right has been given his right.” AzZubair said: “By Allah, the matter is very serious.”
I heard ‘lkrimah (recite): “And (remember) when We sent towards you (Muhammad (ﷺ)” and it was recited to Sufyan from az-Zubair, `a group (three to ten persons) of the jinn, (quietly) listening to the Qur`an` (al-Ahqaf [46:29]). He said: “[That was] in Nakhlah. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was praying Isha`, and they (the jinn) just made round him a dense crowd as if sticking one over the other (in order to listen to the Prophet’s (ﷺ) recitation)” (al-Jinn [72:19]). Sufyan said: “They were one above the other, like thick masses of clouds one above the other.”
Someone who heard him told me that az-Zubair bin al ‘Awwam (رضي الله عنه) said: “We used to pray Jumu’ah with the Prophet (ﷺ), then we would leave and seek the shade of the fortress, but we would not find any shade except (an area) the width of our feet.
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to address us and remind us of the annals of Allah, until we could see that on his face (because of alarm). It was as if he was warning people against an enemy that would attack them in the morning. If he had just recently met with Jibreel, he would not smile until Jibreel had departed from him.
This verse was revealed when we were present with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) : `And fear the Fitnah (affliction and trial) which affects not in particular (only) those of you who do wrong (but it may afflict all the good and the bad people)`. (al-Anfal [8:25]). We started saying: “What is this fitnah? And we never thought that it would happen as it did.”