Majma al-Zawaid — Hadith 13368

Sayyiduna Jabir bin Abdullah bin Khuzaymah bin Thabit (may Allah be pleased with him), who is not the Ansari, was in the caravan of Sayyidah Khadijah (may Allah be pleased with her). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was with him in that caravan (before the declaration of prophethood). He said to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): O Sayyiduna Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)! I have seen certain qualities in you. I bear witness that you are the Prophet of Allah who will emerge from Tihamah. I believe in you, and when I hear of your emergence, I will come to you. Then he was delayed in coming to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), until the time came when Makkah was conquered; then he came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saw him, he said: Welcome to the first emigrant (Muhajir)! He submitted: O Messenger of Allah! I could not come to you earlier, not because I did not believe in you, or had denied my allegiance to you, or had broken the covenant made with you; I believed in the Qur'an too and had rejected the idols. But what happened is that after you, successive years of the most severe drought overtook us, which rendered the marrow useless and made the mounts sick. Because of it the milk vanished and sneezing set in; because of it good fortune was disrupted; all the implements of farming in the land were ruined; despair and restlessness took hold; distress became entrenched; the vegetation of the earth dried up; children began to perish. There was nothing but despair upon despair. In any case, I have come to you in such a state that I am neither one who breaks his covenant nor one who denies his allegiance. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: Leave this. Allah Almighty extends His hand at night so that the one who did wrong during the day may repent; if that person repents, Allah Almighty accepts his repentance. And He extends His hand during the day so that the one who did wrong at night may repent; if he repents, Allah Almighty accepts his repentance. The truth will be heavy on the Day of Resurrection because of its weight, and falsehood will be light on the Day of Resurrection because of its lightness. Paradise has been placed within disliked things, and the world has been placed within the desires of the self. He submitted: O Messenger of Allah! Tell me about the light of the day and the darkness of the night, about water being warm in winter and cold in summer, about the Secure City (al-Balad al-Amin), about the place from which clouds come forth, about the place from which locust swarms come forth, about thunder and lightning; and tell me what part of the child comes from the man and what part comes from the woman. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "As for the darkness of the night and the light of the day: when the sun sets, it goes beneath the earth, and for this reason the night becomes dark. When the light of morning comes, seventy thousand angels rush towards it, and it holds back reluctantly, disliking that anything other than Allah Almighty be worshipped, until it rises and gives light. Then, because of its long stay, the day becomes long, and for this reason water becomes warm. But when it is summer, its stay becomes shorter, and for this reason water becomes cold. As for the locust swarm, it is born from the sneeze of a fish in the sea named 'al-Abwat', and in it (the sea) it perishes. As for the formation of clouds, they form from the region between the earth and the sky, and from the region of the earth and sky the winds named al-Saba and al-Janub bridle them, and the winds named al-Shamal and al-Dabur drive them from behind. As for thunder, it is an angel who has a whip in his hand; he brings the far one near and pushes the near one back. When he raises his hand, the lightning flashes; when he rebukes, the thunder arises; when he strikes, the lightning flashes. As for what the man gets from the woman and what the woman gets from the man: from the man come the bones, sinews and veins, and from the woman come the flesh, blood and hair. As for 'al-Balad al-Amin', what is meant by it is 'Makkah'."
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat. Its chain contains a narrator, Yusuf bin Ya'qub Abu Imran; al-Dhahabi mentioned this hadith in his biography and did not transmit from anyone that he was declared da'if (weak).