while the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—was saying:
“Do not grieve, Abū Bakr(1); Allah is with us.”
Allah then sent down His tranquility and reassurance upon Abū Bakr(2). That was his night(3).
As for his day, when the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—passed away, the Arabs apostatized. Some of them said, “We will pray but not pay zakat,” while others said, “We will pay zakat but not pray.” I went to him, sparing no effort to offer him sincere counsel. I said, “Successor to the Messenger of Allah, win the people over and deal gently with them.”
He replied, “Were you a tyrant(4) in the Age of Ignorance, only to become a coward(5) in Islam? The Messenger of Allah—peace be upon him—has been taken from us, and revelation has ceased. By Allah, if they withheld from me even a camel hobble that they used to give the Messenger of Allah(6)—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—I would fight them over it.”
So we fought alongside him(7), and by Allah, he proved sound in his judgment. That was his day. He then wrote to Abū Mūsā, reproaching him(8).
(1) The phrase “O Abū Bakr” is omitted from A, B, and W.
(2) B alone reads: “upon Abū Bakr.”
(3) N reads: “Thus, this is the night.”
(4) N, H, R, S, and W read: “a tyrant”; M reads: “a coward.”
(5) “And a khawwār (weakling)”: thus in A and B. All the other manuscripts read: “jawwār.”
(6) N and M read: “which they used to give to the Messenger of Allah”; S reads: “which they used to deliver to the Messenger of Allah.”
(7) The phrase “So we fought alongside him” is omitted from A and B.
(8) Al-Muhibb al-Tabarī mentioned this report in his book *al-Riyād al-Nadira fī Manāqib al-Ashara* (The Verdant Gardens on the Merits of the Ten), pp. 89 and 91 (al-Khānjī, 2nd ed., 1372/1953). Al-Muhibb stated: “It was transmitted by the hadith master Abū al-Hasan ibn Bishrān and by al-Mallā in his biographical work, through Maymūn ibn Mihrān, from Dabba ibn Mihsan al-Ghanawī [sic].” After relating the report, he added: “Al-Mallā transmitted it in his biographical work, as did the author of a work on his merits; al-Khujandī transmitted its substance and added…” Al-Tabarī also records in his *History*, 4:184–85 (al-Maʿārif ed.), a report concerning another incident between Dabba ibn Mihsan and Abū Mūsā al-Asharī, on which Umar—may Allah be pleased with him—rendered judgment.