53 – ʿAbd Allāh narrated to us; ʿAlī ibn Abī Maryam related, from Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar al-Madāʾinī, who reported that Bakr ibn Khunays said:

“We once went out to perform the rain-seeking prayer. The governor and the judge came out with us. The judge offered his supplication, after which the governor gave the people leave to depart. At that moment there was not a cloud to be seen in the sky.

“Standing next to me was a black man wrapped in a cloak. I turned toward him and overheard him praying, and his supplication captivated me. When he saw the people walking away he said in his prayer:

‘O Allah, send us rain this very moment and return Your servants rejoicing.’

“By Allah, he had scarcely finished those words before the sky unleashed the heaviest downpour imaginable. I was eager to learn his identity or at least catch up with him, but I was unable to do so.”