Majma al-Zawaid — Hadith 13419

Sayyiduna Imran bin Husayn (may Allah be pleased with him) said: We were sitting with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), talking about kindness (to parents), and he began to relate to us: "Among the nations before you there was a man who was a great worshipper and had a hermitage; the man's name was Jurayj. He had a wife, or a mother, who would come to him and call out to him, and he would look down at her from (the hermitage) and talk with her. Once she (that is, his mother) came to him while he was praying, and he remained turned towards his prayer. The woman called him." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) put his hand on his forehead and described how the woman had put her hand on her forehead, raised her head and called out to him loudly: "O Jurayj! O Jurayj!" "This happened three times, and each time Jurayj thought in response: 'O my Lord! On one side is my mother and on the other side is my prayer' (so he did not answer his mother). The woman became angry and said: 'O Allah! Let Jurayj not die until he looks upon the faces of prostitutes.'" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The daughter of the king of that town reached maturity, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a boy. People asked the woman: 'Who did this to you? Who is the man involved with you?' The girl said: 'It is that man of the hermitage, Jurayj.' Jurayj knew nothing of it until he heard the sound of axes at the foundations of his hermitage. He asked the people: 'Woe to you! What is the matter with you?' The people gave him no answer. When he saw this, he took hold of the rope and let it down. They began to drag him by his nose and beat him, saying: 'O man! Do you deceive people through your deeds?' He said: 'Woe to you! What is the matter with you?' The people said: 'The daughter of the master of the town, the king's daughter, whom you made pregnant.' He said: 'I did not do that.' They said: 'She has even given birth to a boy.' Jurayj asked: 'Is the boy alive?' The people replied: 'Yes.' Jurayj said: 'Leave me for now!' Then he turned back and prayed two rak'ahs. Then he came to that tree and took a branch from it. Then he came to the boy, who was in his cradle at the time. Jurayj struck the boy with that branch and said: 'O rebellious one! Who is your father?' The boy replied: 'My father is so-and-so, the shepherd.' The people said (to Jurayj): 'If you wish, we will build your hermitage of gold, and if you wish, of silver.' Jurayj said: 'Rebuild it as it was before.'" The narrator Abu Harb said: No one spoke in the cradle except three children: Sayyiduna Isa bin Maryam (peace be upon him), the witness of Sayyiduna Yusuf (peace be upon him), and the boy connected with Jurayj.
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat and al-Mu'jam al-Kabir. Its chain contains a narrator, al-Mufaddal bin Fadalah, whom Ibn Hibban and others declared trustworthy while a group declared him da'if (weak); the hadith he narrates is hasan (good). He also recorded something similar in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir with a good chain from Malik bin Amr al-Qushayri.