420 — “I call to Allah alone: He who, if harm befalls you and you call upon Him, removes it from you; who, if you lose your way in a desolate land and call upon Him, brings you back; and who, if drought afflicts you and you call upon Him, causes vegetation to grow for you.”

Ahmad narrated it (5/64): ʿAffan narrated to us; Wuhayb narrated to us; Khalid al-Hadhdhaʾ narrated to us from Abu Tamimah al-Hujaymi, from a man of Balhajim, who said:

“I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, to what do you call?’ He said”—and he mentioned it. It contains an additional passage that will come under “Do Not Revile Anyone.”

This is an authentic chain; all its narrators are trustworthy and among al-Bukhari’s narrators.

Al-Dulabi also narrated it in al-Kuna (p. 20), from Zuhayr, who said: Abu Ishaq narrated to us from Abu Tamimah that he said to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him—or that a man said to him—“To what do you call?” The hadith.

This apparent uncertainty seems to have come from Abu Ishaq, for he became confused in his later years. The correct version is that it is from Abu Tamimah, from the man, since Abu Tamimah was not a Companion. The man’s name was Jabir ibn Sulaym, or Sulaym ibn Jabir, Abu Jurayy, as will come there.

Ahmad then narrated it (5/377) through Abu al-Nadr: al-Hakam narrated to us from Fudayl, from Khalid al-Hadhdhaʾ, with a similar wording, except that he said:

“From Abu Tamimah, from a man of his people, that he came to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him—or he said: I witnessed the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, when a man came to him and said: ‘Are you the Messenger of Allah?’ Or he said: ‘Are you Muhammad?’ He replied, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘Then to what do you call?’” The hadith includes: “Then the man embraced Islam,” and it contains the additional passage.

I did not recognize al-Hakam or his shaykh Fudayl. It then became clear to me that they were in fact one person, for al-Taʿjil states: “Al-Hakam ibn Fadl, from Khalid al-Hadhdhaʾ, from Abu Tamimah, from a man of his people, concerning the prohibition