He said: “I came to love a man from Quraysh—my only reason for loving him was his hatred for ʿAlī. That man was later placed in charge of a cavalry unit, so I accompanied him, and again my sole motive was his hatred for ʿAlī. We captured some prisoners and wrote to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ asking him to send someone who would take the khums, so he sent ʿAlī to us.

Among the captives was a slave-girl who was one of the finest of them. ʿAlī set aside the khums and distributed the booty; then he came out while water was dripping from his head. We said, ‘O Abū al-Ḥasan, what is this?’ He replied, ‘Do you not see that slave-girl who was among the captives? When I divided the spoils and separated the khums she fell to the share of the khums, then to the Household of the Prophet ﷺ, and then to the family of ʿAlī—so I had relations with her.’

The man then wrote to the Prophet of Allah ﷺ, and I said, ‘Send me with the letter,’ so he sent me as the collector. As I read the letter aloud I kept saying, ‘He has told the truth.’ The Prophet ﷺ took hold of my hand and of the letter and said, ‘Do you hate ʿAlī?’ I answered, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘Do not hate him; and if you already love him, then increase your love for him. By Him in Whose hand is my soul, the portion allotted to the family of ʿAlī from the khums is better than a slave-girl.’ After the words of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ there was no one among the people more beloved to me than ʿAlī.”

ʿAbdullāh said: “By Him besides Whom there is no deity, there is nothing between me and the Prophet ﷺ in this report except my father, Buraydah.”

This narration is unique to Aḥmad. More than one transmitter has related the same report from Abū al-Jawwāb, from Yūnus ibn Abī Isḥāq, from his father, from al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib, in wording similar to that of Buraydah ibn al-Ḥuṣayb, and this is odd. Al-Tirmidhī (1) also recorded it from ʿAbdullāh ibn Abī Ziyād, from Abū al-Jawwāb al-Aḥwaṣ ibn Jawwāb, with this chain, and said, “Hasan, gharīb; we know it only through his narration.”

Imām Aḥmad (2) said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq narrated to us; Jaʿfar ibn Sulaymān narrated to us; Yazīd al-Rishk told me, from Muṭarrif ibn ʿAbdullāh, from ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn, who said:

“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ dispatched a detachment and placed ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib in command of it. During the journey he did something, so four of the Companions of Muhammad agreed among themselves to report it to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. ʿImrān said: Whenever we returned from a journey we would first go to the Messenger of Allah and greet him. They entered and one of them stood up and said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, ʿAlī did such-and-such.’ He turned away from him. Then the second stood and said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, ʿAlī did such-and-such,’ and he turned away. Then the third stood and said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, ʿAlī did such-and-such.’ Then the fourth stood and said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, ʿAlī did such-and-such.’ The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then faced the fourth, his face having changed, and said, ‘Leave ʿAlī alone, leave ʿAlī alone, leave ʿAlī alone! ʿAlī is from me and I am from him, and he is the guardian of every believer after me.’ ”

This has also been narrated by al-Tirmidhī and al-Nasāʾī (3) from Qutaybah, from Jaʿfar ibn Sulaymān; al-Tirmidhī’s wording is longer and mentions that he had taken a slave-girl from the captives. He then said, “Hasan, gharīb; we know it only through the narration of Jaʿfar ibn Sulaymān” (4).