English Translation

Muhammad ibn Ja’far narrated to us: Shu’bah narrated to us, who said: I heard Simak ibn Harb say: I heard Abbad ibn Hubaysh narrating from Adi ibn Hatim, who said: The cavalry of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him — or he said, the messengers of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him — came while I was at Aqrab, and they took my paternal aunt and some other people captive. When they brought them to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, they lined them up before him. She said: "O Messenger of Allah, my provider is far away and my child is cut off, and I am a frail old woman with no one to serve me; so show favor to me, may Allah show favor to you." He said, "Who is your provider?" She said, "Adi ibn Hatim." He said, "The one who fled from Allah and His Messenger." She said: So he showed favor to me. She said: When he returned, and a man was at his side whom we think was Ali, he said, "Ask him for provisions." She asked him, and he ordered something for her. She said: She then came to me and said, "You have done something your father never did. Go to him desiring or fearing, for so-and-so went to him and obtained something from him, and so-and-so went to him and obtained something from him." So I went to him, and there was a woman and children — or a child — with him. He mentioned their closeness to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and I realized that this was not the dominion of Chosroes or Caesar. He said to me, "O Adi ibn Hatim, what keeps you from saying ‘There is no god but Allah’? Is there any god besides Allah? What keeps you from saying ‘Allah is greater’? Is there anything greater than Allah, Mighty and Sublime?" So I accepted Islam, and I saw his face light up with joy, and he said: "Those who have earned [Allah’s] anger are the Jews, and those who have gone astray are the Christians." Then they asked him further, so he praised Allah, the Exalted, and extolled Him, then said: "Now then, O people, it is for you to give generously of what is extra — let a man give a sa’ or part of a sa’, a handful or part of a handful." Shu’bah said: "And most of what I recall is that he said, ‘a date, or half a date.’ Indeed, one of you will meet Allah, Mighty and Sublime, and He will say what I say: ‘Did I not make you hearing and seeing? Did I not give you wealth and children? So what have you sent forth?’ Then he will look before him and behind him, to his right and to his left, and find nothing; so he protects himself from the Fire only with his face. So guard yourselves against the Fire, even with half a date, and if you cannot find that, then with a kind word. I do not fear poverty for you; Allah, the Exalted, will surely grant you victory and give you, or open up for you, until the traveling woman journeys between al-Hirah and Yathrib fearing nothing for her caravan except theft." Muhammad ibn Ja’far said: Shu’bah narrated it to me more times than I can count, and I read it back to him.