English Translation

Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ibn Furak informed us: Abdullah ibn Ja'far ibn Ahmad al-Asbahani narrated to us: Yunus ibn Habib narrated to us: Abu Dawud al-Tayalisi narrated to us: Abd al-Aziz ibn Abi Salama narrated to us: Wahb ibn Kaysan narrated from Ubayd ibn Umayr al-Laythi, from Abu Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) used to say: While a man was in an open land, he heard thunder in a cloud and heard speech in it saying, 'Water the garden of such-and-such person' by name. That cloud went to a volcanic field and poured its water, then went to the tail of an irrigation channel and entered a channel, absorbing the water. The man walked with the cloud until he reached a man standing in his garden watering it. He said, 'O servant of Allah, what is your name?' He said, 'Why do you ask?' He said, 'I heard speech in the cloud whose water this is, saying: Water the garden of so-and-so, using your name. So what do you do with it when you harvest it?' He said, 'Since you say that, I divide it into three thirds: I keep a third for myself and my family, I reinvest a third into the garden, and I give a third to the poor, beggars, and wayfarers.'