English Translation

Yazid ibn Harun told us: Sulayman ibn al-Mughira informed us: Humayd ibn Hilal told us, from Abdullah ibn Samit, who said: Abu Dharr said: "We went out from our people, Ghifar — who used to treat the sacred month as permissible — I and my brother Unays and our mother. We set out until we stopped with a maternal uncle of ours who had wealth and standing. Our uncle honored us and treated us well, so his people became jealous of us and said: 'When you leave your family, Unays takes your place with them.' So our uncle came to us and repeated to him what had been said. I said: 'As for the good you have done in the past, you have now sullied it, and there can be no more togetherness between us after this.'" He said: So we brought forward our small herd of camels and loaded up on them, while our uncle covered himself with his garment and began to weep. He said: So we set out until we camped in the vicinity of Mecca. He said: Unays then wagered with a man over our herd and a similar one, and they went to a soothsayer, who decided in Unays's favor, so he brought us our herd and a similar one besides. "And I had prayed, O son of my brother, three years before I met the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him." He said: I said: "To whom?" He said: "To Allah." He said: I said: "Then which direction did you face?" He said: "Wherever Allah directed me." He said: "And I would pray the night prayer until, at the end of the night, I would be thrown down as if I were a wrap" — Abu al-Nadr said Sulayman said "as if I were a wrap" — "until the sun rose over me." He said: Unays said: "I have some business in Mecca, so take care of things until I come back to you." He said: So he went, and he was delayed, then he came to me. I said: "What kept you?" He said: "I met a man who claims that Allah, Mighty and Sublime, has sent him with your religion." He said: I said: "What do the people say about him?" He said: "They say he is a poet, a sorcerer, and a soothsayer." He said: And Unays was himself a poet. He said: So he said: "I have heard the sayings of the soothsayers, and what he says is not their sayings; and I have measured his words against the meters of poetry, and by Allah no one's tongue could ever make it fit as poetry. By Allah, he is truthful and they are liars." He said: I said to him: "Can you look after things for me until I go and see for myself?" He said: "Yes, but be wary of the people of Mecca, for they have become hostile toward him and scowl at him" — Affan said "shayyafu lahu," Bahz said "sabaqu lahu," Abu al-Nadr said "shafaw lahu." He said: So I set out until I arrived at Mecca, and I picked out a weak-looking man among them and said: "Where is this man whom you call the Sabian?" He said: So he pointed towards me. He said: "The Sabian!" He said: So the people of the valley set upon me with every stone and bone until I fell down unconscious. Then when I rose up, I was like a red idol-stone. So I went to Zamzam and drank from its water and washed the blood off me, and I entered between the Ka'ba and its coverings, and I stayed there, O son of my brother, thirty days and nights, having no food but the water of Zamzam, and I grew so fat that the folds of my belly became rounded, and I never felt the weakness of hunger in my liver. He said: Then one moonlit, clear night, while the people of Mecca were [asleep/unaware] — Affan said "askhiyan," Bahz said "askhiyan," and likewise said Abu al-Nadr — Allah struck deafness upon the ears of the people of Mecca, so none circumambulated the House except two women, who came to me calling upon Isaf and Na'ila. He said: I said: "Marry one of you to the other!" but that did not turn them away. He said: They came near me again, so I said [something crude] like a piece of wood, without any euphemism. He said: So they went off wailing and saying: "If only some of our menfolk were here!" He said: Then the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and Abu Bakr met them as the two were coming down from the mountain, and he said: "What is the matter with you two?" They said: "The Sabian is between the Ka'ba and its coverings." They said: "What did he say to you?" They said: "He said to us a word that fills the mouth." He said: So the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, came, he and his companion, until he touched the Black Stone, then circumambulated the House, then prayed. He said: So I came to him, and I was the first to greet him with the greeting of Islam. He said: "And upon you and the mercy of Allah. Who are you from?" He said: I said: "From Ghifar." He said: So he reached with his hand and put it on his forehead. He said: I said to myself: He dislikes that I belong to Ghifar. He said: So I wanted to take his hand, but his companion restrained me sharply, and he knew him better than I did. He said: "How long have you been here?" He said: "I have been here for thirty nights and days." He said: "Who has been feeding you?" I said: "I had no food but the water of Zamzam." He said: "So I grew fat until the folds of my belly became rounded, and I never felt the weakness of hunger in my liver." He said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "It is blessed, and it is a nourishing food." Abu Bakr said: "Allow me, O Messenger of Allah, to feed him tonight." He said: So he did. He said: Then the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, set off, and Abu Bakr set off, and I went with them both, until Abu Bakr opened a door and began to take out for us some raisins of Ta'if. He said: That was the first food I ate there. I stayed as long as I stayed, then the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "I have been directed to a land with palm trees, and I think it is nothing other than Yathrib. Will you convey this from me to your people? Perhaps Allah, Mighty and Sublime, will benefit them through you and reward you on their account." He said: So I went until I came to Unays. He said: He said to me: "What have you done?" He said: I said: "I have submitted and believed." He said: He said: "Then I have no aversion to your religion; I too have submitted and believed." Then we came to our mother, and she said: "I too have no aversion to your religion, for I have submitted and believed." Then we carried on until we came to our people, Ghifar, and some of them accepted Islam before the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, arrived in Medina — meaning Yazid, in Baghdad — and some of them said: "When he arrives [we will accept it]" — Bahz said: "Our brothers, let us accept Islam," and likewise said Abu al-Nadr — and their leader who led them in prayer was Khufaf ibn Ima' ibn Rahda al-Ghifari, who was their chief at that time. And the rest of them said: "When the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, arrives, we will accept Islam." So the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, arrived in Medina, and the rest of them accepted Islam. He said: And the tribe of Aslam came and said: "O Messenger of Allah, our brothers accept Islam on the same terms they accepted it," so they accepted Islam. Then the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "Ghifar — may Allah forgive them, and Aslam — may Allah grant them peace." Bahz said: "and their leader who led them in prayer was Ima' ibn Rahda," while Abu al-Nadr said "Ima'." Abdullah told us: Hudba told us: Sulayman ibn al-Mughira told us, and he mentioned something similar with its chain of transmission.