Chapter: The Pebbles’ Glorification in His Palm ﷺ

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Bakr al-Bayhaqī said:
“Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAbdān informed us; Aḥmad ibn ʿUbayd al-Ṣaffār informed us; al-Kudaymī narrated to us; Quraysh ibn Anas narrated to us; Ṣāliḥ ibn Abī al-Akhdar narrated to us, from al-Zuhrī, from a man called Suwayd ibn Yazīd al-Sulamī, who said:

‘I heard Abū Dharr say: “I will never mention ʿUthmān except with good after something I once saw. I was a man who used to seek out the private moments of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. One day I found him sitting alone, so I seized the opportunity and sat with him. Then Abū Bakr came, greeted him, and sat to the right of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. ʿUmar came, greeted, and sat to the right of Abū Bakr. ʿUthmān came, greeted, and sat to the right of ʿUmar. In front of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ lay seven pebbles—or, he said, nine. He gathered them into his palm, and they glorified Allah until I heard a buzzing like that of bees. He then set them down and they fell silent. He took them again and placed them in the palm of Abū Bakr; they glorified until I heard a buzzing like that of bees, after which he set them down and they fell silent. He then picked them up and placed them in the hand of ʿUmar; they glorified until I heard a buzzing like that of bees, then he set them down and they fell silent. Finally he placed them in the hand of ʿUthmān; they glorified until I heard a buzzing like that of bees, then he set them down and they fell silent.

The Prophet ﷺ said, ‘These men are the Caliphate of Prophethood.’” (1)

Al-Bayhaqī (2) added: Muḥammad ibn Bashshār transmitted the same report from Quraysh ibn Anas, from Ṣāliḥ ibn Abī al-Akhdar; however, Ṣāliḥ was not reliable in preserving ḥadīths. The sound version is that of Shuʿayb ibn Abī Ḥamzah from al-Zuhrī, who said: “Al-Walīd ibn Suwayd related that an elderly man from Banū Sulaym, who had met Abū Dharr at al-Rabadha, reported this ḥadīth from Abū Dharr.” Thus spoke al-Bayhaqī.

Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā al-Dhuhlī (3) said, in the book al-Zuhriyyāt that he compiled from al-Zuhrī’s narrations: “Abū al-Yamān related to us; Shuʿayb related to us, who said: ‘Al-Walīd ibn Suwayd related that an elderly man from Banū Sulaym, who had met Abū Dharr at al-Rabadha, stated that while …’”