Alī (1)?” He would weep profusely (2), until his tears wore away the flesh of his cheeks. He prostrated so much that he became known as the Man of Calluses (3). “The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—named him the Master of the Worshippers.”
Hishām ibn Abd al-Malik once went on Hajj and strove to touch the Stone (4), but the crush of the crowd prevented him (5). Then the Adornment of the Worshippers arrived. The people stopped for him (6) and moved away from the Stone until he touched it (7), leaving no one beside the Stone but him (8). Hishām [ibn Abd al-Malik] asked, “Who is this?” Al-Farazdaq [the poet] (9) replied:
This is he whose tread al-Bathā knows;
The House knows him, as do the sacred precinct and the land beyond.
This is the son of the best of all Allah’s servants;
This is the pious, stainless, pure (10), illustrious man.
The corner of the Hatīm, recognizing his palm,
Almost clasps him whenever he comes to touch it.
(1) (K) reads: “Alī—peace be upon him.”
(2) (K) reads: “He—peace be upon him—would weep profusely.”
(3) (K) reads: “He prostrated until the parts of his body that touched the ground were like a camel’s foot-pad, and he was named *Dhā al-Thafināt* (the Man of Calluses).” (N), (M), (A), and (H) read *Dhā al-Naqabāt*, which is a corruption. *Lisān al-Arab* states: “The *thafina* of a camel or she-camel is the knee.” Abd Allāh ibn Wahb al-Rāsibī, the leader of the Kharijites, was called *Dhū al-Thafināt* because he prayed so much and because his prolonged prostrations had left marks on his forehead, knee, and hands, just as kneeling leaves marks on a camel’s calloused pads.
(4) (A) and (B) read: “So he strove to touch the Corner.”
(5) (K) reads: “But he could not because of the crowd.”
(6) (A) and (B) read: “Zayn al-Ābidīn—may Allah be pleased with him—then stopped”; (K): “Zayn al-Ābidīn—peace be upon him—then stopped.”
(7) (A), (R), (N), (M), (W), and (H) read: “until he touched [it].”
(8) (K) reads: “There was no one among them beside the Stone other than him.”
(9) (K), pp. 97–98 (M), reads: “Other than him; they showed him respect and gave him precedence over all the others. Hishām saw this and became angry. He asked, ‘Who is this man for whom they stopped until he touched the Stone?’ Al-Farazdaq the poet then rose from among them and opened the way of love and *walāya* (allegiance).” The phrase *wa-Ibn Abd Allāh al-Malik* is an addition in (A) and (B). The word “poet” is absent from (N) and (M).
(10) *Al-zāhir* (the manifest).