“By Him in Whose Hand is my soul, if you were to remain...” under no. 1948. The hadith of Abu Hurayrah to which al-Tirmidhī alluded has already appeared in the report beginning, “If you were to be...,” no. 968. It also has another corroborating report with the wording, “If you were to remain...,” which appeared shortly before under no. 1965.

1977 — “O Allah, bless her owners through her”—that is, the she-goat.

Bahshal recorded it in The History of Wāsiṭ (pp. 27–29 of the office photocopy): Muhammad ibn Dāwūd ibn Ṣubayḥ narrated to us: Abū Tawbah al-Rabīʿ ibn Nāfiʿ narrated to us: Muhammad ibn Muhājir narrated to us, from ʿUrwah ibn Ruwaym al-Lakhmī, from Thawbān, the freedman of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, who said:

“A Bedouin guest came to stay with us. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, sat before his apartments and began asking him about the people: how delighted were they with Islam, and how devoted were they to prayer? He continued telling him what pleased him about these matters, until I saw the face of the Messenger of Allah grow radiant.

“When noon came and it was time to eat, he privately called me over, urgently saying: ‘Go to ʿĀʾishah, may Allah be pleased with her, and tell her that the Messenger of Allah has a guest.’ She said, ‘By Him Who sent him with guidance and the religion of truth, I have nothing at hand for anyone to eat.’ She sent me back to his wives, all of whom offered the same excuse as ʿĀʾishah. I saw the Messenger of Allah’s complexion darken.

“The Bedouin said, ‘We desert people are accustomed to making do in our circumstances; we are not townspeople. A handful of dates, washed down with milk or water, is enough for us. That is abundance!’

“At that moment, a she-goat of ours that had already been milked passed by. We used to call her Thamar Thamar. The Messenger of Allah called her by that name, ‘Thamar Thamar!’ and she came to him bleating. He took her by the leg in the name of Allah, then restrained her in the name of Allah, then stroked her navel in the name of Allah, whereupon her udder filled with milk (the original reads: fa-ḥaṭṭat). He called for a milk-pail, and I brought it to him. He milked her in the name of Allah and filled it, then handed it to the guest. The man took a great draught from it and then wished to set it down, but the Messenger of Allah said: ‘Drink more.’ He again wished to set it down, and he said to him: ‘Drink more.’ He kept repeating this until the man was full and had drunk as much as he wished. Then he milked her again in the name of Allah, filled it, and said: ‘Take this to ʿĀʾishah.’ And she drank