Saheeh Seerah Al Albaanee English

He (Abu Dharr) said (to `Abdullaah Ibn al-Ṣaamit): “I started to perform prayers, O son
of my brother, three years before I met the Messenger of Allaah ‏”.ﷺ I (`Abdullaah)
said: ‘To whom?’ He said: ‘To Allaah.’ I said: ‘What direction did you face?’ He said: ‘I
faced where my Lord directed me to. I used to pray at night until the end of the night,
then I fell down (in exhaustion) like a piece of cloth until the sun rose over me.’”
(Abu Dharr continued): “(One day) Unais said: ‘I have some work in Makkah; stay here.’
He went to Makkah, and he came back late. I said: ‘What did you do?’ He said: ‘I met a
man in Makkah who follows your religion. He says that Allaah has sent him.’ I said:
‘What do the people say?’ He said: ‘They say that he is a poet, or a soothsayer, or a
magician.’ And Unais was one of the poets. Unais said: ‘I have heard the words of the
soothsayers, and he is not a soothsayer. I compared his words to the words of poetry,
and no one after me can say that he is a poet. By Allaah, he is telling the truth and they
are lying.’ I said: ‘Stay here while I go and look.’”
He (Abu Dharr) said: “I came to Makkah and looked for an insignificant man among
them. I said: ‘Where is this man whom you call al-Saabee’a (i.e. the one who changed
his religion)?’ He pointed at me and called out: ‘He is a Saabee’a’ (i.e. the man told on
Abu Dharr). The people of the valley attacked me with clods of earth and bones, until I
fell unconscious. I got up whenever I recovered, and it was as if I was a red idol (due to
excessive blood loss). I went to Zamzam and washed the blood from myself, and I drank
some of its water. O son of my brother, I stayed there for thirty nights or days and I had
no food but the water of Zamzam, but I grew so fat that I got folds on my stomach and I
did not feel any hunger in my stomach.”
(Abu Dharr continued): “While the people of Makkah were sleeping deeply one moonlit
night, no one was circumambulating the Ka`bah except two of their women, who were
calling upon Isaafaa and Naa’ilah (two of their idols). They came to me during their
circumambulation and I said: ‘Marry one of them to the other.’ But they did not stop
what they were saying. They came to me again and I said: ‘They are just pieces of wood
like private parts’; and I could not use a metaphor. They turned away from me saying:
‘If any of our people were here they would teach you a lesson (for the obscene words
used for our idols before us).’ They were met by the Messenger of Allaah and Abu Bakr
as they were coming down the hill, and he ﷺ said: ❝What is the matter with you?
❞ They (the two women) said: ‘There is a Saabee’a between the Ka`bah and its
curtain.’ He ﷺ said: ❝What did he say to you?❞ They said: ‘He uttered such words
before us as we cannot express.’ The Messenger of Allaah ﷺ came and kissed the
(Black) Stone, then he circumambulated the Ka`bah, along with his Companion, then he
prayed.” Abu Dharr said: “When he had finished his prayer, I was the first one to greet
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