900 — “He has repented with a repentance such that, if the people of Madinah had repented in the same way, it would have been accepted from them.”

Abu Dawud (4379) and al-Tirmidhi (1/274) reported it through Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Firyabi, from Isra’il, who said: Sammak ibn Harb related to us, from ‘Alqamah ibn Wa’il al-Kindi, from his father: A woman went out during the time of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, intending to pray. A man encountered her, covered her with his garment, and violated her. She cried out, and he fled. Then a man passed by her, and she said: “That man did such-and-such to me.” So they went and seized the man whom she thought had assaulted her, and brought him to her. She said: “Yes, this is the one.” They then brought him to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him. When he ordered that he be stoned, the man who had assaulted her stood up and said: “Messenger of Allah, I am the one who did it.” He said to the woman: “Go, for Allah has forgiven you.” He spoke kindly to the man, and said concerning the man who had assaulted her: “Stone him.” And he said, then mentioned the statement cited above.

Al-Tirmidhi said: “It is a good, authentic hadith, and ‘Alqamah ibn Wa’il heard from his father.”

I say: All its narrators are trustworthy, and all are among Muslim’s narrators. There is some criticism of Sammak, but it is not detrimental; he is good in hadith except in his narrations from ‘Ikrimah, which are weak. However, al-Firyabi was contradicted in part of his account. Imam Ahmad (6/379) said: Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr related to us; Isra’il related it to us with the wording: “A woman went out to pray, and a man encountered her. He covered her with his clothes, violated her, and went away. Then a man came upon her, and she said to him: ‘That man did such-and-such to me.’ The man went in pursuit of him, and a group of the Ansar came upon her and stopped by her. She said to them: ‘A man did such-and-such to me.’ They went in pursuit of him, but brought back the man who had gone in pursuit of the man who had assaulted her! They took him to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and she said: ‘This is the one.’ When the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, ordered that he be stoned, the man who had assaulted