- ʿUbayd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad reported to us; Jaʿfar ibn Muhammad ibn Nuṣayr reported to us; he said: Abū al-ʿAbbās Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Masrūq narrated to us; he said: Muhammad ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Burjulānī narrated to us; he said: ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd, Abū Ḥafṣ, narrated to us; he said: Ṣadaqah ibn Khālid, from one of the senior teachers of Damascus, related ⦗1217⦘:
“We performed the pilgrimage with Muhammad ibn Suwayd al-Fihri, and one of our companions died on the road at a watering place. We went to the people who lived there to ask for something with which we could dig his grave. They brought out to us an axe and a shovel and said, ‘We live in this remote spot you see, and these two tools are kept precisely for situations like yours. Give us a pledge that you will return them to us.’ We agreed.
After we had buried our companion, we forgot the axe inside the grave. We considered it a grave matter to reopen it, so we said, ‘Let us satisfy the owners by paying the price of the axe.’ We went to them, informed them of what had happened, and offered to pay for it, but they refused, saying, ‘In this place we have no way to replace it, and you have already given us your guarantee.’
So we went back to the grave, exhumed it, and found that his neck, hands, and feet had all been drawn together inside the ring of the axe. We levelled the earth over him once more, returned to the people, and told them that retrieving the axe was impossible, then compensated them for its value.
When we finally departed, we visited the deceased man’s wife and asked her what private devotions he used to keep between himself and Allah. She replied, ‘From what you saw of him, he used to perform pilgrimage and take part in military expeditions.’ When we told her what had happened, she said, ‘A man travelled with him who was carrying money. He killed that man and took the money; with it he used to go on pilgrimage and engage in those expeditions.’”