74 – Al-Qāḍī Abū al-Qāsim informed us; Abū ʿAlī narrated to us; ʿAbdullāh narrated to us; Sufyān ibn Muḥammad al-Miṣṣīṣī narrated to us; Abū Nuʿaym Isḥāq ibn al-Furāt al-Tujībī at Tujīb Kindah narrated to me; Abū al-Haytham al-ʿAbdī narrated to us, from Mālik ibn Anas, from al-Zuhrī, from Ibn Ḥadrad—or Ibn Abī Ḥadrad—al-Aslamī, who said:

I came to Madinah during the caliphate of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb intending to perform the ḥajj. When I reached Makkah I prayed, “O Allah, provide me with a companion from among the Prophet’s Companions, one whom Your Prophet loved and who loved Your Prophet.” Just then I saw a black youth riding a donkey, leading a she-camel, and behind her was an elderly man on another donkey. I asked the youth, “Boy, who is the elder?” He replied, “Muhammad ibn Maslamah al-Anṣārī, a Companion of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him.” I thus travelled with the best of companions and lodged with the best of hosts.

One day, as we rode along, we spoke about gratitude and acts of kindness. Muhammad ibn Maslamah said, “We were once with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, when he said to Ḥassān ibn Thābit: ‘O Ḥassān, recite for me a poem from the pre-Islamic period, for Allah has lifted from you the sins bound up with its composition and its narration.’ Ḥassān then recited a poem in which al-Aʿshā lampooned ʿAlqamah ibn ʿUlāthah:

[metre: al-Sarīʿ]
ʿAlqam, you are no match for ʿĀmir,
breaker of bows and bonds both old and new.

He went on at length ridiculing ʿAlqamah. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, ‘O Ḥassān, do not recite this poem to me again after this gathering.’ ⦗70⦘ Ḥassān said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, do you forbid me concerning a pagan who is living with Caesar?’ The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, replied, ‘O Ḥassān, the most grateful of people to people are the most grateful of them to Allah. Indeed Caesar questioned Abū Sufyān ibn Ḥarb about me and he spoke ill, saying one thing after another; then he questioned this man about me and he spoke well.’ The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, therefore thanked him for that.