1276 — Abū Hafs Umar ibn Ayyūb al-Saqatī also related to me: Mahfūz ibn Abī Tawba related to us: Uthmān ibn Sālih related to us: Rishdīn ibn Sad related to us: Mūsā ibn Habīb and Jarīr ibn Hāzim related to me, on the authority of al-Dahhāk ibn Muzāhim, on the authority of Ibn Abbās, who said:

On the night the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—was in the cave, he asked his companion, ⦗1815⦘ Abū Bakr, “Are you asleep?”

He replied, “No. I have watched what you have been doing and how you have been tossing and turning, O Messenger of Allah. What is troubling you—may my father and mother be your ransom?”

He said, “I noticed a burrow that had caved in, and I feared that some dangerous creature might emerge from it and harm you or me.”

Abū Bakr asked, “O Messenger of Allah, where is it?” He showed him, and Abū Bakr plugged the burrow by pressing his heel into it. He then said, “Sleep—may my father and mother be your ransom.”

The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said, “May Allah have mercy upon you—what a true and faithful friend you are! You affirmed my truthfulness when people called me a liar; you supported me when people forsook me; you believed in me when people disbelieved in me; and you kept me company in my loneliness. What favor has anyone ever done me that compares with yours?”