“…Woe to you, clan of Quraysh! Beware of adultery, for it brings poverty.” (1)

Abu al-Hasan al-Madaʾini transmitted—from Ismāʿīl ibn Mujālid, from his father, from al-Shaʿbī, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Zayd ibn al-Khaṭṭāb—who said:

Zayd ibn ʿAmr declared, “I examined Christianity and Judaism and found them both distasteful. While I was in Greater Syria I visited a monk and told him my story. He said, ‘It appears that you are seeking the religion of Abraham, O brother of the people of Mecca.(2) You are looking for a faith that no longer exists today. Go back to your land, for Allah will raise up from among your own people someone who will bring the religion of Abraham in pure monotheism; he will be the most honored of all creation in Allah’s sight.’ (3)”

Through a weak chain, from Ḥujayr ibn Abī Ihāb, who said: “I saw Zayd ibn ʿAmr watching the sun; when it passed the zenith he would face the Kaʿbah, perform one rakʿah (unit of prayer), and make two prostrations.”

Al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn ʿUthmān al-Ḥizāmī recited on behalf of Zayd:

I have surrendered my face to the One to Whom surrender
The rain-clouds that bear sweet, refreshing water;
Whenever a land is to be given drink,
They are driven to it and pour down in rushing torrents. (4)

And I have surrendered my very self to the One to Whom submits
The earth that carries its weighty rocks.