Yusuf ibn Ali (1), Abu al-Qasim al-Zanjani, the jurist.
He was renowned for his piety. He reported that Shaykh Abu Ishaq al-Shirazi, quoting Qadi Abu al-Tayyib, said:
“We were once seated in a study circle inside the Mansur Mosque when a young man from Khurasan approached and cited the hadith of Abu Hurayrah concerning the muṣarrāh (2). The youth then declared, ‘This hadith is not acceptable.’ He had scarcely completed his sentence when a snake fell from the ceiling of the mosque. Everyone leapt up and fled, yet the snake pursued that very young man alone. People shouted to him, ‘Repent, repent!’ He replied, ‘I repent!’ Immediately the snake vanished, and no one knew where it had gone.”
Ibn al-Jawzi narrated this story from his teacher Abu Muʿammar al-Ansari, on the authority of this Abu al-Qasim.
(1) Al-Muntaẓam, vol. 9, p. 154; Tawḍīḥ al-Mushtabiḥ, vol. 4, p. 229.
(2) In the printed edition (ṭ), “al-maṭar” appears, but it is meaningless; our reading agrees with that of al-Muntaẓam, which the author cites. Al-maṣraʾah denotes a she-camel, cow, or sheep left unmilked for two or three days so that a prospective buyer sees an abundance of milk—an act of deception. This ḥadīth from Abū Hurayra is recorded in both Ṣaḥīḥ collections: al-Bukhārī (nos. 2148, 2150) and Muslim (no. 1515). Al-Bukhārī’s version, narrated by al-Layth from Jaʿfar ibn Rubayʿah from al-Aʿraj from Abū Hurayra from the Prophet ﷺ, reads: “Do not prolong the trial of camels and sheep; whoever then purchases them has the right to two inspections after they have been milked: if he wishes, he keeps them; if he wishes, he returns them, giving a saʿ‘ of dates.” It is transmitted by Bashār.