bearing a howdah lined with fine green silk and brocade; it will carry you across the Bridge as swiftly as a flashing bolt of lightning, and everyone who sees you on the Day of Resurrection will envy you for it.”

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān replied, “I am content.”

The Bedouin departed and came upon a thousand Bedouins of Banū Sulaym, mounted on a thousand beasts, carrying a thousand swords and a thousand spears.

He asked them, “Where are you heading?”

They said, “We are going to kill that man who has vilified our gods.”

He said, “Do not do it. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah,” and he related the whole story to them.

They all declared, “We bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.” Then they entered the city, and word reached the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He came out to meet them without his cloak, and they dismounted, kissing the ground where they met him while proclaiming, “There is no god but Allah; Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.”

They said, “O Messenger of Allah, command us.”

He replied, “Join the banner of Khālid ibn al-Walīd.”

No other company of a thousand—Arab or non-Arab—ever embraced faith all at once except them.

Al-Bayhaqī said: “Our teacher Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥāfiẓ recorded it in al-Muʿjizāt, with authorisation, from Abū Aḥmad ibn ʿAdiyy al-Ḥāfiẓ.”

I say: It was also narrated by the ḥāfiẓ Abū Nuʿaym in al-Dalāʾil, from Abū al-Qāsim ibn Aḥmad al-Ṭabarānī—dictated and read—who said: “Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Walīd al-Sulamī al-Baṣrī, Abū Bakr ibn Kinānah, narrated to us…,” and he mentioned something similar. Abū Bakr al-Ismāʿīlī likewise transmitted it from Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Walīd al-Sulamī.

Al-Bayhaqī added: “It has also been related from ʿĀʾishah and Abū Hurayrah. The chain we have cited is the best of those available, yet it is still weak, and the flaw lies with this al-Sulamī. Allah knows best.”

The Ḥadīth of the Donkey

Several leading ḥadīth scholars have rejected it. Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥāmid said: Abū al-Ḥasan Aḥmad ibn Ḥamdān al-Saḥrakī informed us; ʿUmar ibn Muḥammad ibn Bujayr narrated to us; Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Yazīd—dictating—narrated to us; Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿUqbah ibn Abī Ṣahbāʾ informed us; Abū Ḥudhayfah narrated to us, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥabīb al-Hudhalī, from Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī, from Abū Manẓūr, who said:

“When Allah granted His Prophet ﷺ victory at Khaybar, his allotted share included four pairs of mules, four pairs of sandals, and ten uqiyyahs (ounces) [of silver].”