We were at a Byzantine city when the Byzantines brought out against us a huge line of troops, and an equal number of Muslims, or more, went out to meet them. Uqba bin Amir was in command of the Egyptians, and Fadala bin Ubayd was in command of the whole army. One of the Muslims charged at the Byzantine line and plunged right into their midst. The people cried out, "Glory be to Allah! He is throwing himself into destruction with his own hands!"At that Abu Ayub Ansari stood up and said, "People, you are interpreting this verse in that way, but it was revealed concerning us, the Ansar. When Allah had given Islam strength and its supporters had grown many, some of us said to one another privately, without the Messenger of Allah ﷺ knowing, 'Our properties have gone to ruin, and Allah has now given Islam strength and its supporters are many. What if we stayed with our properties and repaired what has been ruined of them?' So Allah revealed to His Prophet ﷺ, refuting what we had said, 'And spend in the way of Allah, and do not throw yourselves into destruction with your own hands' [Baqarah 2:195]. The destruction, then, was to settle down with our properties and repair them and abandon fighting."Abu Ayub continued journeying in the way of Allah until he was buried in Byzantine land.
كنا بمدينة الروم، فأخرجوا إلينا صفا عظيما من الروم، فخرج إليهم من المسلمين مثلهم أو أكثر، وعلى أهل مصر عقبة بن عامر، وعلى الجماعة فضالة بن عبيد، فحمل رجل من المسلمين على صف الروم حتى دخل فيهم، فصاح الناس وقالوا: سبحان الله يلقي بيديه إلى التهلكة، فقام أبو أيوب الأنصاري فقال: يا أيها الناس إنكم لتأولون هذه الآية هذا التأويل، وإنما أنزلت هذه الآية فينا معشر الأنصار لما أعز الله الإسلام وكثر ناصروه، فقال بعضنا لبعض سرا دون رسول الله ﷺ: إن أموالنا قد ضاعت، وإن الله قد أعز الإسلام وكثر ناصروه، فلو أقمنا في أموالنا، فأصلحنا ما ضاع منها، فأنزل الله على نبيه ﷺ يرد علينا ما قلنا: {وأنفقوا في سبيل الله ولا تلقوا بأيديكم إلى التهلكة} فكانت التهلكة الإقامة على الأموال وإصلاحها، وتركنا الغزو، فما زال أبو أيوب شاخصا في سبيل الله حتى دفن بأرض الروم.
Abu Dawud (2512), Tirmidhi (2972), and Ibn Abu Hatim (1/330–331) narrated it, and Ibn Hibban (4711) and Hakim (2/84) graded it sahih, all of them relating from Yazid bin Abu Habib, from Aslam Abu Imran, who related it, and the wording given is that of Tirmidhi. Tirmidhi said, "Hasan sahih gharib." Hakim said, "Sahih according to the criteria of the two Shaykhs."I say, this is a mistake on his part, may Allah have mercy on him, for the two Shaykhs did not narrate from Aslam Abu Imran, who is Aslam bin Yazid, though he is trustworthy, Nasai and others having deemed him so.