571 – Muhammad ibn Bakkar narrated to us; Hafs ibn ʿUmar narrated to us, from Ismaʿil ibn Abi Khalid, from al-Shaʿbi:

Abd Allah ibn Rawaha once had relations with one of his slave girls. His wife found out, seized a razor, came to him and caught him just as he rose from the girl.

She said, “Have you done it, Ibn Rawaha?”

He replied, “I have done nothing.”

She threatened, “Either you recite some Qur’an, or I will slit you open with this!”

He continued, “I hesitated to recite the Qur’an while in a state of major ritual impurity, yet she was a jealous woman with a razor in her hand, and I could not trust her, so I recited:

[al-Baḥr al-Ṭawīl]
‘Among us is the Messenger of Allah, reciting his Lord’s Book,
When the well-known radiance of dawn has split the sky.
He passes the night keeping his side away from his couch,
While the idolaters lie heavy upon their mattresses.
He showed us guidance after blindness, so our hearts
Are certain that whatever he says will come to pass.’

⦗771⦘

“At that she threw the knife aside and said, ‘I believe in Allah and I deny what my eyes perceived.’

“I then went to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and informed him of what had happened. He laughed, and my action pleased him.”