“And if you retaliate, then let your retaliation be commensurate with the wrong done to you; but if you are patient, that is better for those who are patient.” (1)
The Messenger of Allah then said: “We shall be patient and not retaliate.”
I say: This is a good chain of transmission. All its narrators are truthful, though some of them have received minor criticism.
- “I was forbidden from uncovering myself.”
Al-Tayālīsī transmitted it in his Musnad (no. 2659): “ʿAmr ibn Thābit narrated to us, from Simāk, from Ibn ʿAbbās; and Talḥah, from ʿAṭāʾ, from Ibn ʿAbbās,” as a report traced back to the Prophet. He added: “That was before prophethood was revealed to him.”
I say: This chain is weak by both routes. The first includes ʿAmr ibn Thābit—namely, Ibn Abī al-Miqdām al-Kūfī—who is weak. Simāk is Ibn Ḥarb, and his narration from Ibn ʿAbbās is through ʿIkrimah; perhaps this was omitted by the copyist, for it has been narrated from him through another route, as will follow. Talḥah—namely, Talḥah ibn ʿAmr al-Ḥaḍramī al-Makkī—is abandoned.
Al-Ḥākim also transmitted it (4/179) through Abū Yaḥyā ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, who said: al-Naḍr, Abū ʿUmar al-Khazzāz, narrated to us, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: “Abū Ṭālib was working on the Well of Zamzam, and the Prophet was among those carrying stones, while he was still a boy. The Prophet took off his waist-wrapper, uncovering himself, and used it to shield himself from the stones. Then he fainted. It was said to Abū Ṭālib: ‘Attend to your son, for he has fainted.’ When the Prophet recovered from his fainting, Abū Ṭālib asked him about it. He replied: ‘Someone clad in white garments came to me and said: “Cover yourself.”’”