The Messenger of Allah ﷺ had sent him to draw water for them, but the jinn tried to stop him and even cut the bucket-rope, so he went down to confront them. The report is extremely long and highly questionable; Allah knows best.
Al-Kharāʾiṭī also narrated (1): Abū al-Ḥārith Muḥammad ibn Muṣʿab al-Dimashqī and others told us; Sulaymān ibn Bint Shuraḥbīl al-Dimashqī (2) told us; ʿAbd al-Quddūs ibn al-Ḥajjāj (3) told us; Mujālid ibn Saʿīd (4) told us, from al-Shaʿbī, from a man (5) who said:
“I was sitting in the assembly of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb when a group of the Prophet’s Companions ﷺ were discussing the virtues of the Qurʾān. One of them said, ‘The closing verses of Sūrat al-Naḥl,’ another said, ‘Sūrat Yā Sīn.’ ʿAlī then remarked, ‘And where are you with respect to the merit of Āyat al-Kursī? It contains seventy words, and in every word there are seventy blessings.’
Among those present was ʿAmr ibn Maʿdī Karib, who had not uttered a single word. He asked, ‘And what about “In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate”?’
ʿUmar said, ‘Relate it to us, Abū Thawr.’
He said, ‘While I was still in the Days of Ignorance, hunger pressed hard upon me. I rode my horse deep into the wilderness and found nothing but ostrich eggs. As I travelled on, I came upon an Arab elder in a tent; beside him was a maiden who shone like the rising sun, and a few small goats were with him.
I said to him, “Surrender—may your mother be bereaved of you!”
He lifted his head toward me and said, “Young man, if you want hospitality, dismount; if you seek assistance, we shall assist you.”
I replied, “No, I shall take you captive.”
He answered with these verses:
“We offered you lodging from us in generosity,
yet you would not desist, in ignorance, like the ill-starred.
You came with falsehood and lies, but before you gain your desire,
the gleam of white blades will sever throats.”
Then he leapt at me, saying, “In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate,” and it was as though I were flattened beneath him. He then said, “Shall I kill you, or …”