nor like Caesar. He then said to me:

“ʿAdiyy ibn Ḥātim, what made you run away? Did you flee because people say, ‘There is no god but Allah’—and is there any god besides Allah? What made you run away? Was it the cry, ‘Allah is greatest’—and is anything greater than Allah?”

So I accepted Islam, and I saw his face brighten with joy. He added, “Those who have incurred wrath are the Jews, and those who have gone astray are the Christians.”

They later asked him for advice, whereupon he praised and extolled Allah and then said:

“To proceed: O people, give in charity from the surplus of what you possess. Let one man give a full measure, another part of a measure, a handful, or even part of a handful.”

Shuʿbah said—so far as I know he also added—“even a date, or half a date.”

“Each of you will meet Allah, and He will say what I now say: ‘Did I not make you hearing and seeing? Did I not grant you wealth and children? What have you sent on ahead?’ He will look before him, behind him, to his right and to his left and find nothing, and he will have nothing with which to shield himself from the Fire but his own face. So protect yourselves from the Fire, even with half a date; and if you cannot find even that, then with a gentle word. I do not fear poverty for you. Allah will surely aid you and enrich you—or open lands for you—until a woman can travel between al-Ḥīrah and Yathrib, and the greatest thing she fears for her litter is a lone thief who might snatch something from it.”

Al-Tirmidhī (1) narrated this report through Shuʿbah and ʿAmr ibn Abī Qays, both from Simāk, and said, “It is ḥasan gharīb; we know it only through the narration of Simāk.”

Imām Aḥmad (2) likewise reported: Yazīd related to us, Hishām ibn Ḥassān informed us, from Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn, from Abū ʿUbaydah—meaning Ibn Ḥudhāfah—from a man who said, “I said to ʿAdiyy ibn Ḥātim, ‘A report has reached me about you and I would like to hear it directly from you.’”

He replied, “Yes. When news of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ first reached me I disliked it intensely, so I departed until I reached the frontier of Byzantium—in another version, until I came to Caesar. Yet that place proved even more hateful to me than the prospect of his emergence. I said to myself, ‘By Allah, I will go to this man; if he is lying he can do me no harm, and if he is truthful I will know.’ So I came and presented myself to him.

“When I arrived the people said, ‘ʿAdiyy ibn Ḥātim!’ I entered upon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and he said to me, ‘ʿAdiyy ibn Ḥātim, accept Islam and you will be safe,’ three times.

“I replied, ‘I already follow a religion.’ He said, ‘I know your religion better than you do.’ I said, ‘You know my religion better than I?’ He said, ‘Yes. Are you not a Rakūsiyy, and do you not take the mirbāʿ—the quarter share—of your people’s spoils?’ I answered, ‘Indeed.’ He said, ‘That is not lawful for you in your own religion.’ No sooner had he said this than I was humbled.

“He went on, ‘I also know what is holding you back from Islam: you say that only the weak and powerless follow him, and that the Arabs have all attacked them. Do you know al-Ḥīrah?’ I said, ‘I have not seen it, but I have heard of it.’

“He said, ‘By Him in Whose hand is my soul, Allah will certainly bring this matter to completion until a woman will set out from al-Ḥīrah and make tawāf of this House without anyone’s protection, and the treasures of Chosroes son of Hormuz will be opened up.’”