118 – ʿAlī ibn al-Jaʿd narrated to us: al-Masʿūdī informed us, from al-Qāsim, who said:

Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, had a servant who used to bring him his earnings every night. Abu Bakr would ask him, “From where did you obtain this?” and the servant would answer, “From such-and-such a source.” One night he brought him his earnings while Abu Bakr had spent the day fasting, and Abu Bakr forgot to question him; he reached out and ate. The servant said, “O Abu Bakr! Every night you ask me about the source of what I bring you, yet tonight I noticed you did not ask.” He replied, “Then tell me, where did you get it?” He said, “In the pre-Islamic period I practiced kahānah—fortune-telling—for some people, but they did not pay me until today, so they have now given it to me. It was only ⦗85⦘ a fabrication.”

Hearing that, Abu Bakr thrust his hand into his throat and began to vomit. The servant then went to the Prophet ﷺ and informed him, saying, “I lied to Abu Bakr.” The Prophet ﷺ laughed—I think the narrator said he laughed heartily—and remarked, “Abu Bakr hates to let anything enter his stomach except what is wholesome.”