Hadith #233

Arabic Text

English Translation

Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that “There was a man among the people of the desert — his name was Zahir — and he used to bring the Prophet ﷺ (Allah bless him and give him peace) a present from the desert, so the Prophet ﷺ (Allah bless him and give him peace) would equip him when he wished to go out to battle. “the Prophet ﷺ said (Allah bless him and give him peace):‘Zahir is our desert, and we are his towns'. He (Allah bless him and give him peace) used to love him, though he was a homely man, so the Prophet ﷺ (Allah bless him and give him peace) came to him one day while he was selling his wares, and embraced him from behind so that he couldn't see who it was. So he said: ‘Who is this? Let go of me!’ Then he turned around and recognized the Prophet ﷺ (Allah bless him and give him peace). Once he recognized the Prophet ﷺ (Allah bless him and give him peace), he kept his back pressed to the Prophet ﷺ's chest, so the Prophet ﷺ (Allah bless him and give him peace) proceeded to say: ‘Who will buy this slave?’ The man said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, in that case, by Allah, you will find me an unsellable commodity!’ the Prophet ﷺ said (Allah bless him and give him peace): ‘But you are not an unsaleable commodity in the view of Allah),’ or he said: ‘You are precious to Allah!'”