only in the hope that he would invite me, but he did not. Then ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with him—passed by, and I asked him about a verse from the Book of Allah; again, I asked only so that he might invite me along, yet he did not.

Then Abū al-Qāsim ﷺ came by. He perceived what was on my face and in my heart and said,

“Abū Hurayrah!”

I replied, “At your service, O Messenger of Allah.”

He said, “Come with me.”

I sought permission to enter, and he granted it. Inside I found some milk in a cup. He asked,

“Where did this milk come from?”

They said, “So-and-so—or the family of so-and-so—gave it to us as a gift.”

He said, “Abū Hurayrah.” I responded, “At your service, O Messenger of Allah.” He then said, “Go to the People of the Ṣuffah and summon them for me.”

(The People of the Ṣuffah were the guests of Islam; they had neither family nor wealth. Whenever a gift reached the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, he would partake of it and send some to them, but if charity came to him he would send it all to them and take none of it.)

That saddened me, for I had hoped to get a swallow of the milk to strengthen me for the rest of my day and night. I thought, “I am the messenger; when they arrive I shall be the one who serves them. What will be left for me of this milk?” Yet there was no escaping obedience to Allah and His Messenger. So I went and called them. They came, asked permission to enter, and he allowed them in.

Each man would take the cup, drink until he was satisfied, and return it to me, until I had gone round to the last of them. Then I handed it to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ; he drank until he was satisfied and returned it to me. I kept passing it along until I reached the last of them, after which I gave the cup once more to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He took it, holding it in his hand, and a little remained.

He lifted his head, looked at me, smiled, and said,

“Abū Hurayrah!”

I replied, “At your service, O Messenger of Allah.”

He said, “Only you and I are left.”

I said, “You have spoken the truth, O Messenger of Allah.”

He said, “Sit down and drink.” So I sat and drank. Then he said to me, “Drink,” and I drank again. He kept telling me, “Drink,” and I kept drinking until I said, “By the One Who sent you with the truth, I can find no room for it inside me.”

He said, “Hand me the cup.” I gave him the cup, and he drank what was left.

Al-Bukhārī (1) narrated this ḥadīth from Abū Nuʿaym and from Muḥammad ibn Muqātil, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak; al-Tirmidhī also recorded it (2) from Hannād, from Yūnus ibn Bukayr (3), all through the transmission of ʿUmar ibn Dharr, and al-Tirmidhī declared it sound.

Imām Aḥmad said: Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh related to us; ʿĀṣim related to me, from Zirr, from Ibn Masʿūd, who said:

“I was herding the sheep of ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and Abū Bakr passed by. He said,

‘O boy, do you have any milk?’

I replied, ‘Yes, but I am entrusted with the flock.’

He said, ‘Do you have a ewe that the ram has not yet mounted?’ (4)

So I brought him such a ewe. He stroked its udder and milk descended; he milked it into a vessel, then drank and gave Abū Bakr to drink. Then he said to the udder,

‘Contract!’ (5)

and it contracted.

Later I came to him and said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, teach me some of those words of yours.’

He passed his hand over my head and said,

‘O young man, may Allah have mercy on you! You are a lad who will be taught.’ (6)