Each slip was inscribed with writing. Taking one of them in his right hand, he flicked it into the middle of the circle, then slipped away among the people, trying not to be noticed (1) while I kept my eye on him. Abū ʿUbayda b. Harbawayh was present; he unfolded the slip and read it. It contained a request that those present pray for its owner—whether he was ill or otherwise—and that they pronounce āmīn to the supplication. The shaykh therefore said, “O Allah, reunite the two of them, join their hearts together, and make this a cause that draws them near to You and gains them closeness in Your presence.” Those in attendance responded āmīn to his prayer. He then folded the slip and tossed it to me, so I examined what was inside and found written:

May Allah pardon the servant who aided with a prayer
for two companions ever constant in affection,
until the talebearer of passion carried a slander
from one to the other, and they abandoned their pledge.

When the second Friday came, they both appeared together, the pallor and dejection having vanished. I said to Ibn Harbawayh, “It seems the prayer has been answered, and the shaykh’s supplication was fully accepted.” Later that same year, when I was among those performing the pilgrimage, it was as though I could see the two youths, both in the state of ihrām, between Minā and ʿArafah; I continued to observe them, still united, until they had grown into middle age (2).

Al-Qifṭī says in his History of the Grammarians about him: “Ibrāhīm al-Harbī was a leading figure in asceticism, knowledgeable of the legal schools, keen-sighted in hadith, and a preserver of it. … In the field of language he authored The Rare Expressions in Hadith, one of the most valuable and extensive works in this genre (3).”