Letters ( revised ) | THE NINETEENTH LETTER | 147
(111-259)
He put them into a dish, and offered a supplication for their increase. Then he called the men in groups of ten and they all ate of them. Then he said: ‘Take what you brought, hold it, and do not turn it upside down.’[112] I put my hand in the bag; there were in my hands as many dates as I had brought. Later, during the lifetime of the Prophet (UWBP), and those of Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, and ‘Uthman, I ate of those dates.” – It is narrated through another chain of transmission: “I gave several loads of those dates to be used in God’s way.

Later the bag containing the dates was plundered when ‘Uthman was assassinated.” Abu Hurayra was a constant and important student and disciple among the People of the Bench, the sacred school and tekke of the Teacher of the Universe, the Pride of the World (UWBP). In addition, that Teacher (UWBP) had prayed for his strength of memory. The miracle of plent y he reported which occurred in a large gathering like the expedition of Tabuk, should therefore be as sound and certain as the word of a whole army.

S i x t e e n t h  E x a m p l e : Foremost Bukhari, and the accurate books relate through an authentic line of transmission that once Abu Hurayra was hungry, so he followed the Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) into his house. There  they saw  that  a cup of milk  had  been brought  as a gift.  God’s  Messenger (UWBP) said to him: “Call all the People of the Bench!” Abu Hurayra relates: “I said to myself, I could drink all the milk myself, as I was most in need of it. But since it was God’s Messenger’s (UWBP) order, I fetched the People of the Bench, who numbered more than a hundred. God’s Messenger (UWBP) told me to offer them the milk. I gave the cup to each in turn, and they all drank until satisfied. At the end, the Messenger (UWBP) told me, ‘The rest is for me and you.’[113] As I drank, God’s Messenger  (UWBP)  kept  telling  me  to  drink  more,  until  I said,  ‘I swear  by the Glorious One who sent you with the truth that I am too full to drink any more.’ Then God’s Messenger  (UWBP) drank the rest, invoking the name of God and offering Him thanks.” May it be a blessing for him a hundred thousand times!

              This indubitable, manifest miracle, as pure and sweet as milk itself, is related by all six books with their sound narrations, and foremost Bukhari, who committed to memory five hundred thousand Hadiths.



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[112] Tirmidhi, Manaqib, 47, no: 3839; Bayhaqi, Dala’il al-Nubuwwa, vi, 110 (through various lines of transmission); Musnad, ii, 352; Qadi Iyad, al-Shifa’, i, 295; al-Sa’ati, al-Fath al-Rabbani, xxii, 56; Tabrizi, Mishkat al-Masabih, iii, 191, no: 5933.

[113] Bukhari, Riqaq, 17; Tirmidhi, Sifat al-Qiyama, 36, no: 2477; Musnad, ii, 515; Tirmidhi (Tahqiq: Ahmad Shakir), no: 2479; al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, iii, 15; Qadi Iyad, al-Shifa’, i, 296.

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Letters ( revised )