the Christian, so I asked, “Nuʿaym?”
He answered, “Yes.”
I said, “What became of your Christianity?”
He replied, “Since I left you I have become a ḥanīf, a pure monotheist.”
We then reached Damascus, where I met Kaʿb (1). He said, “When you arrive at Jerusalem, place the Rock between yourselves and the qiblah.”
The three of us set off and eventually came to Abū al-Dardāʾ. Umm al-Dardāʾ said to Kaʿb, “Will you not intercede with your brother on my behalf? He prays all night and fasts all day.” So Kaʿb arranged that she should have him one night out of every three.
We continued on to Jerusalem. When the Jews heard that Nuʿaym and Kaʿb were there, they gathered together. Kaʿb said, “This is an ancient book, and it is in your own language (2); read it.” Their reader recited it until he reached the verse: “Whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted from him, and in the Hereafter he will be among the losers” (Āl ʿImrān 85).
Forty-two rabbis among them accepted Islam, whereupon Muʿāwiyah fixed stipends for them and gave them gifts.
Hammām added: Bisṭām ibn Muslim related to me, conveying from Muʿāwiyah ibn Qurrah, that they later discussed that book. Shahr ibn Ḥawshab passed by and said, “You have come to one who knows. When Kaʿb lay dying he said, ‘Is there no man I can entrust with a trust?’ A man replied, ‘I am.’ Kaʿb handed him the book and said, ‘Ride out on the lake; when you reach such-and-such a spot, cast it in.’
“The man left, saying, ‘A book full of knowledge, and Kaʿb is about to die—I will not squander it.’ He returned to Kaʿb and said, ‘I have done what you ordered.’ ‘What did you see?’ Kaʿb asked. ‘Nothing at all,’ he replied. Realising the man had lied, Kaʿb kept adjuring him until he brought the book back. Kaʿb then said, ‘Is there anyone who will fulfil a trust?’ Another man said, ‘I will.’
“He boarded a ship, and when he reached the appointed place and was about to throw the book in, the sea opened for him until he could see the seabed. He cast it there, then returned and told Kaʿb, who said, ‘It is the Torah exactly as Allah revealed it to Moses.’”