ʿAbdān ibn Razīn narrated to us; Naṣr ibn Ibrāhīm al-Faqīh narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn al-Ḥusayn narrated to us; al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn al-ʿAbbās al-Zaydī narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn Ḥarb narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn ʿIyāḍ narrated to us; ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, the nephew of al-Mājishūn, narrated to us:

It has reached us that ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rawāḥah owned a slave girl whom he kept hidden from his household. One day his wife saw him alone with her and said, “So you have preferred your slave girl to your free wife?” He denied it.

She replied, “If you are truthful, then recite a verse from the Qur’an.”

He said:

I bear witness that Allah’s promise is true,
and that the Fire is the abode of the unbelievers.

She said, “Add another verse for me.”

So he said:

And that the Throne floats upon the water,
and above the Throne is the Lord of all worlds;
it is borne by noble angels—
angels of God, those brought near.

She said, “I believe in Allah, and I deny what my eyes have seen.”

He then went to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and informed him of what had happened. The Prophet laughed and did not censure him (1) for it (2).

Ibn Wahb related to us: Usāmah ibn Zayd informed me that Nāfiʿ told him: Ibn Rawāḥah had a wife whom he feared, and he also had a slave girl. He had intercourse with the slave girl, whereupon the wife protested. He exclaimed, “Glory be to Allah!”

She said, “Then recite to me, for you are in a state of major ritual impurity.”

He recited:

With Allah’s leave I testify that Muhammad
is the Messenger of the One who is above the heavens, exalted.