Al-Ṭabarānī (1) relates that Safina was once asked about his name: “Why were you called Safina—‘the ship’?” He answered, “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ named me Safina. He set out one day with some of his Companions and their baggage proved too heavy for them. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to me, ‘Spread out your cloak.’ I spread it, and he placed their belongings on it. He then said, ‘Carry them, for you are nothing but Safina.’ Had I been made to carry the load of a camel, or two camels, or even five or six that day, it would not have weighed me down.

Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir narrates from Safina: “I once embarked on a sea-going vessel that broke apart. I climbed onto one of its planks, and the sea cast me onto a forested thicket where a lion appeared. It approached, and I said, ‘O Abū al-Ḥārith, I am Safina, the freedman of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.’ The lion lowered its head and nudged me with its flank—or with its paw—until it placed me on the road, then growled as though bidding me farewell (2).”

Ḥammād ibn Salama said: Saʿīd ibn Jumhān told us, on the authority of Safina, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ once entered Fāṭimah’s house and noticed in one corner a decorated curtain (qirām) hanging. He turned back without entering. Fāṭimah therefore said to ʿAlī, “Ask the Messenger of Allah ﷺ what caused him to turn back.” When he asked, the Prophet replied, “It is not permissible for me—or for any prophet—to enter a house adorned with such decoration” (3).

ʿAṭiyya bar ʿUrwa (4) al-Saʿdī, a resident of al-Balqāʾ, was a Companion and transmitter of hadith. He died in al-Balqāʾ, where he left descendants.

ʿAmr ibn Akhtab (5), Abū Zayd al-Anṣārī, known as al-Aʿraj, fought alongside the Prophet ﷺ in thirteen campaigns. The Prophet wiped his head and said, “O Allah, beautify him” (6). He lived to the age of one hundred, and his hair never turned white. He died in Basra.