black (1).
‘Abbād ibn Tamīm said [reporting from his uncle] (2): “I saw the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, lying on his back in the mosque with one leg resting on the other” (3).
His mattress, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was made of leather stuffed with palm fibres (4). He also had a blanket woven from hair or wool (5) on which he slept; it would be folded twice for him (6). One night it was folded four times, but he forbade them to do that, saying: “Return it to the way it was before, for it kept me from my prayer last night” (7).
The point is that he slept on bedding and covered himself with a blanket. He said to his wives: “Gabriel never came to me while I was under the blanket of any woman among you except ‘Ā’ishah” (8).
(1) “And on the ground … black” is omitted from manuscript ق.
(2) An addition from the two Sahīh collections. It was also added in the al-Risālah edition without being noted.
(3) Reported by al-Bukhārī (6287), whose wording is cited, and Muslim (2100). ‘Abbād’s uncle is ‘Abd Allāh ibn Zayd ibn ‘Āsim.
(4) As previously mentioned in the discussion of his furnishings, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.
(5) Misḥ: a covering made of hair or wool.
(6) That is, twice. In Sharh al-Shamā’il (2/127), Mullā ‘Alī al-Qārī vocalized it as thinyatayn, with a kasrah (i) on the thā’, and explained: “That is, two layers.” In manuscript ج, the word here has a kasrah (i), whereas thanyāt (folds) has a fathah (a).
(7) Reported by al-Tirmidhī in al-Shamā’il (329), from Hafsah. Its chain includes ‘Abd Allāh ibn Maymūn al-Qaddāh al-Makkī, a narrator whose reports are abandoned (matrūk). See also al-Albānī’s al-Da‘īfah (4877).
(8) Reported by al-Bukhārī (3775), from ‘Ā’ishah, with the wording: “O Umm Salamah, do not hurt me concerning ‘Ā’ishah, for, by Allah, revelation has never descended upon me …” The other sources likewise give this wording. The author paraphrased it.