Hadith #144

Arabic Text

English Translation

Jarīr ibn ʿAbd Allāh narrated: We went out with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and when we had left Madīnah, there appeared a rider galloping toward us. the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: 'It seems this rider is heading for you.' The man reached us, gave salām, and we returned it. the Prophet ﷺ asked him, 'Where have you come from?' He said, 'From my family, children, and clan.' He asked, 'Where are you heading?' He said, 'I seek the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.' He said, 'You have found him.' The man said, 'O Messenger of Allah, teach me — what is faith (al-īmān)?' He said: 'You testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muḥammad is the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, establish the prayer, pay the zakāh, fast Ramaḍān, and make pilgrimage to the House.' He said, 'I accept.' Then his camel's foreleg fell into a jerboa burrow, and the camel stumbled and the man fell on his head and died. the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, 'Bring me the man.' ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir and Ḥudhayfah rushed to him and sat him up. They said, 'O Messenger of Allah, the man has died.' the Messenger of Allah ﷺ turned away from them. Then he said to them: 'Did you not see how I turned away from the man? I saw two angels pushing fruits of Paradise into his mouth, and I knew that he had died hungry.' Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: 'By Allah, this man is among those about whom Allah عز وجل said: {Those who believed and did not mix their belief with injustice — for them there is security, and they are rightly guided.}' Then he said, 'Attend to your brother.' So we carried him to water, washed him, perfumed him, shrouded him, and carried him to the grave. the Messenger of Allah ﷺ came and sat at the edge of the grave and said: 'Dig a laḥd (lateral niche), not a shaqq (trench), for the laḥd is for us and the shaqq is for others.' Aswad ibn ʿĀmir narrated another chain from ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd, from Thābit, from Zādhān, from Jarīr — a similar narration, except he said: the foreleg of his young camel fell into one of those (burrows) that jerboas dig. And he said: This is one who worked little and was rewarded greatly.