u/Empty-Macaron-1300

"Messenger of Allah, it is a lizard. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) withdrew his hand, whereupon Khalid b. Walid said: Messenger of Allah, is a lizard forbidden? There opon he said: No, but it is not found in the land of my people, and I feel that I have no liking for it. Khalid said: I then chewed and ate it, and Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) was looking at me and he did not forbid (me to eat it)."

(Source: Sahih Muslim 1946a)

The Unsheathed Sword of Allah, Khalid ibn Waleed RA, has only one hadith to his name afaik and it's this. If one of the most influential and respected companions of the Prophet ﷺ is almost entirely absent from the Sunnah, imagine all the other sahaba who may have been so beloved in their times and yet most of us know nothing about them due to being absent from the hadith collections. SubhanAllah.

I feel like so many non Muslims' (who haven't been given dawah directly) perceptions of Islam are deeply corrupted by polemics and propaganda that they can't even say they know the actual message of Islam is "laa ilaha illAllah Muhammadan rasul Allah." Like even if they know what the shahada is, it's so buried underneath islamophobic distractions that these people are sufficiently deceived out of being able to accept its truthfulness.

It makes me think there will be a lot more ppl on the day of judgment classified as "not having heard the message" than we thought, rather than people who heard and rejected the message. Obviously these people are like sheep and they're also so deluded by secularism and other ignorant ideas that are out of their control, but Allahu alam.

Could it be that these Americans (lol) might be considered among those that Allah SWT tests separately on the day of judgment like Prophet ﷺ mentioned? I think al ghazali rahimahullah held a view similar to this but perhaps someone else can confirm that for me. JazakAllah khair

Khalid ibn Walid RA, the legendary general and his single legendary narration of the Prophet ﷺ