Ḥumayd ibn Hilāl said: Al-Aḥnaf ibn Qays narrated to me:

“I arrived in Medina and entered its mosque. While I was performing prayer, a tall, dark-complexioned man entered, the hair of his head and beard completely white, his scalp shaved, and his features evenly proportioned. I followed him and asked, ‘Who is that man?’ They replied, ‘That is Abū Dharr.’

Sulaymān ibn al-Mughīrah and Ibn ʿAwn transmitted this from Ḥumayd ibn Hilāl, from ʿAbd-Allāh ibn al-Ṣāmit, who said:

Abū Dharr related:

“We departed from our tribe, Ghifār, a people who used to violate the sanctity of the Sacred Month. My brother Unays, our mother, and I set out and stayed with an uncle of ours who treated us hospitably and generously.

“His clansmen grew jealous of us and said to him, ‘Whenever you are away from your household, Unays slips in to them.’ Our uncle came and repeated to us what they had said, so I told him, ‘Whatever kindness you showed us before, you have now spoiled; after today there will be no further association between us.’

“We brought forward our ṣirmatuna (small herd) (1), he loaded us on the animals, and our uncle began to weep. We travelled on until we encamped near Mecca. There Unays nāfara—entered a contest of arbitration—over our herd and another equal to it (2). The two contestants went to a kāhin (soothsayer), who ruled in favour of Unays (3), so he returned to us with our herd and another just like it.

“He went on to say, ‘My nephew, I had been performing ṣalāh (prayer) three years before I met the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.’

“I asked, ‘For whom were you praying?’

“He replied, ‘For Allah.’

“I said, ‘In which direction did you face?’

“He said, ‘Wherever Allah directed me. I would pray in the evening, and when the last part of the night arrived I would lie down as though I were a khifāʾ—a piece of tanned hide (4)—until the sun rose above me.’”