710 – Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: “We were sitting in a circle around the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—and with us were Abu Bakr and ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them) among a small group of companions. The Messenger of Allah rose from our midst and was away for some time. We feared that someone might have taken him from us, so we became alarmed and stood up; I was the first to react. I set out searching for the Messenger of Allah until I reached an orchard of the Helpers, belonging to the clan of Banū al-Najjār. I walked all around it looking for a gate, but found none. Then I noticed a rabīʿ—a narrow water-channel—running into the garden from a well outside it. I cleared some earth away and slipped through, entering upon the Messenger of Allah.

He said, ‘Abu Hurayrah?’ I replied, ‘Yes, O Messenger of Allah.’ He asked, ‘What is the matter?’ I said, ‘You were with us, then you left and stayed away for a while. We feared that you might have been taken from us, so we were alarmed, and I was the first to be alarmed. I came to this garden and burrowed in as a fox burrows; the rest of the people are right behind me.’ He said, ‘O Abu Hurayrah,’ then handed me his two sandals, saying, ‘Go with these two sandals of mine. Whoever you meet beyond this garden who bears witness that there is no god but Allah, with a heart that is certain of it, give him the glad tidings of Paradise.’”

He (Abu Hurayrah) then narrated the remainder of the report in full. Related by Muslim.

Rabīʿ means a small stream, that is, a little canal (jadwal, with an openly-pronounced jīm), as explained in the ḥadith. The word iḥtafaztu is transmitted with both a rāʾ (iḥtafartu) and a zāy (iḥtafaztu); when read with the zāy it means “I contracted myself and made myself small until I could enter.”