Majma al-Zawaid — Hadith 4567

Sayyiduna Abu Umamah (may Allah be pleased with him) reports this saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "Shall I not tell you about Sayyiduna al-Khadir (peace be upon him)?" The people said: "Yes indeed, O Messenger of Allah!" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "One day he was walking in the market of the Children of Israel when a man who was a mukatab (a slave who had contracted to buy his freedom) saw him and said: 'Give me some charity, may Allah Almighty bless you!' Sayyiduna al-Khadir (peace be upon him) said: 'I believe in Allah Almighty; whatever Allah Almighty wills comes to be. I have nothing to give you.' The poor man said: 'I ask you by the name of Allah to give me something, for I see the marks of generosity on your face, and I hope for blessing from you.' Sayyiduna al-Khadir (peace be upon him) said: 'I believe in Allah Almighty. I have nothing that I could give you, except that you could take me and sell me.' The poor man said: 'Would that be right?' Sayyiduna al-Khadir (peace be upon him) said: 'Yes! I am speaking the truth. You have asked me by an immense Being, so by the Countenance of my Lord I will not disappoint you. Sell me!' The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: That man took him to the market and sold him for four hundred dirhams. Sayyiduna al-Khadir (peace be upon him) stayed with the buyer for some time, and the buyer did not give him any work. He said to him: 'You bought me only to gain some benefit, so tell me to do some work.' The man said: 'I do not like to put you to hardship; you are an aged old man.' Sayyiduna al-Khadir (peace be upon him) said: 'It will not be a hardship for me.' The man said: 'Get up and move these stones.' They were stones that six people together could move in a day. The man went out for some errand, and when he came back, Sayyiduna al-Khadir (peace be upon him) had already moved them within an hour. The man said: 'You have done well and excellently, and you have a strength that I did not think you would have.' Then the man was about to set out on a journey, and he said: 'I consider you a trustworthy man, so look after my family well in my absence.' Sayyiduna al-Khadir (peace be upon him) said: 'Tell me some work to do as well.' The man said: 'I do not like to put you to hardship.' Sayyiduna al-Khadir (peace be upon him) said: 'It will not be a hardship for me.' The man said: 'Then make bricks for my house until I return to you.' Then the man went on his journey. When the man came back, his building had been completed. The man asked: 'I ask you by Allah: what is your affair and what is your way?' Sayyiduna al-Khadir (peace be upon him) said: 'You have asked me by the name of Allah, and it was because of Allah Almighty that I came into slavery.' Sayyiduna al-Khadir (peace be upon him) said: 'I will tell you who I am. I am al-Khadir, of whom you have heard. A poor man asked me for charity, and I had nothing to give him, and he asked me in the name of Allah, so I offered myself to him and he sold me. I tell you that whoever is asked for something in the name of Allah and turns the one who asks away, while he (is able to give him something), when he stands on the Day of Resurrection his skin will be such that there is neither flesh nor bone, and it will be rattling.' The man said: 'I believe in Allah Almighty. O Prophet of Allah! I put you to hardship without knowing.' Sayyiduna al-Khadir (peace be upon him) said: 'There is no harm; you did well and you were mindful (of Allah).' The man said: 'O Prophet of Allah! May my father and mother be sacrificed for you. Command whatever you wish regarding my family or my wealth (I will give it), or choose that I set you free.' Sayyiduna al-Khadir (peace be upon him) said: 'I would like you to set me free, so that I may keep worshipping my Lord.' So the man set Sayyiduna al-Khadir (peace be upon him) free, and Sayyiduna al-Khadir (peace be upon him) said: 'All praise belongs to Allah Almighty, who made me a slave and then also delivered me from slavery.'"
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir, and its narrators have been declared trustworthy, except that its chain contains a narrator, Baqiyyah bin al-Walid, who is a mudallis (one who conceals defects in the chain), but he is thiqah (trustworthy).