I say: First, he is corroborated, as mentioned earlier; and second, Abū Ḥātim narrated from him and did not declare him weak. *

3585 — “It is blessed; it is food that nourishes.”

It has been narrated on the authority of Abū Dharr and Ibn ʿAbbās.

First: the hadith of Abū Dharr, which has two chains:

The first: from ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ṣāmit.

Muslim narrated it (3/152–155) through Ḥumayd ibn Hilāl, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ṣāmit, from Abū Dharr, who said:

“We left our people, Ghifār, who deemed the sacred month lawful. My brother Anīs, our mother, and I set out and stayed with a maternal uncle of ours. He received us generously and treated us well, but his people envied us. They said to him, ‘Whenever you leave your family, Anīs visits them.’ Our uncle came and repeated to us what he had been told. I said, ‘You have spoiled all your previous kindness, and there can be no association between us henceforth.’ So we loaded our small camel herd and belongings, while our uncle wrapped himself in his garment and began to weep.

“We went on until we settled in the vicinity of Mecca. Anīs entered into a contest of mutual boasting, staking our small camel herd against another like it. The two went to a soothsayer, who ruled in Anīs’s favor. Anīs then returned to us with our herd and another like it.

“I had prayed, nephew, for three years before I met the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him.’ I asked, ‘For whom?’ He replied, ‘For Allah.’ I asked, ‘In which direction did you face?’ He replied, ‘I faced whichever direction my Lord directed me. I would pray at night until, toward the end of the night, I would lie down like a discarded garment, until the sun rose over me.’

“Anīs said, ‘I have some business in Mecca, so look after matters for me until I return.’ Anīs set out and went to Mecca. He was delayed in returning to me, then he came back. I asked, ‘What did you do?’ He said, ‘I met in Mecca a man who follows your religion and claims that Allah sent him.’ I asked, ‘What do the people say?’ He said, ‘They say: a poet, a soothsayer, a magician.’ Anīs was himself one of the poets. Anīs said: ‘I have heard the words