Khaybar: Ali’s Eye Healed and the Standard Placed in His Hand

The sahih reports of Khaybar preserve this event as a complete and powerful sequence. Salama ibn al-Akwa relates that Ali ibn Abi Talib had initially remained behind because his eyes were inflamed. Yet Ali was unwilling to stay away from Allah’s Messenger. He said, in meaning, “Should I remain behind the Messenger of Allah?” and went out until he caught up with the Prophet and the Muslim force.

That evening, on the night before the victory, the Prophet ﷺ made an announcement that filled the companions with anticipation. He said that the next day he would give the standard to a man through whose hands Allah would grant victory, a man who loved Allah and His Messenger and whom Allah and His Messenger loved. The companions spent the night wondering who would receive that honor, and in the morning many hoped the standard might be placed in their own hands.

Then the Prophet ﷺ asked, “Where is Ali ibn Abi Talib?” He was told that Ali was suffering from pain in his eyes. Ali was brought before him. The reports in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim describe what followed with striking simplicity: the Prophet ﷺ applied his saliva to Ali’s eyes and prayed for him. The effect was immediate. Ali recovered so completely that the narration says it was as though he had never suffered any pain in his eyes.

The standard was then placed in Ali’s hand. His first question was whether he should fight until the people became like the Muslims. The Prophet ﷺ gave him a calm and principled instruction: advance without haste, reach their territory, invite them to Islam and explain what Allah required of them. He then taught Ali that if Allah guided even one person through him, that would be better for him than the most precious red camels.

The healing therefore stands at the heart of a larger, beautifully connected scene: Ali’s determination to rejoin the Prophet despite his painful eyes, the night of expectation, the Prophet’s public praise of the man who would receive the standard, the immediate healing after prayer, and then the entrusting of the banner and the mission. The sahih reports finally record that Allah granted victory at Ali’s hand.

Because the event is preserved through several routes in both Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, its core is exceptionally well established: Ali came with an eye ailment, the Prophet ﷺ treated his eyes and prayed for him, he was healed immediately, received the standard, and went forward into the Khaybar campaign.