Al-Mu'jam al-Saghir

Sayyiduna Umar ibn Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates the hadith of the lizard: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was sitting in the gathering of his companions when a Bedouin from Banu Sulaym arrived, who had hunted a lizard and kept it in his sleeve. He was taking it along on his journey. He saw a group of people and asked: "Who is this group gathered around?" The people said: "This is the person who claims that he is a Prophet." So the Bedouin pushed through the people and came forward. Then he turned to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: "O Muhammad! No one speaks more falsely than women, and there is no one more detestable to me than you (God forbid). If my people would not call me hasty, I would have killed you quickly and made all the people happy by your killing." Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "O Messenger of Allah! Allow me to kill him." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Do you not know that a patient man is close to becoming a Prophet?" Then that man turned to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: "By Lat and Uzza, I will never believe in you." So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "O Bedouin! What made you say this, and you have spoken unjustly, and you have not respected my gathering, and you are saying this while belittling the Messenger of Allah?" He said: "By Lat and Uzza, I will not believe in you until this lizard believes in you." So he took the lizard out of his sleeve and placed it before the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: "If this lizard believes in you, then I will also believe in you." So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "O lizard!" The lizard spoke in the Arabic language, which all the people understood, and said: "I am present, and again I am present, O Messenger of the Lord of the worlds!" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whom do you worship?" The lizard said: "I worship the One whose Throne is in the heavens, whose sovereignty is on the earth, whose path is in the sea, whose mercy is in Paradise, and whose punishment is in the Fire." Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "O lizard! Tell, who am I?" It said: "You are the Messenger of the Lord of the worlds, and the Seal of the Prophets. Whoever affirms you has succeeded, and whoever denies you has failed." The Bedouin said: "I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and you are the true Messenger of Allah. By Allah! When I came to you, there was no one on the face of the earth more detestable to me than you. By Allah! Now you are dearer to me than my own life and children. My hair, my body, the innermost part of my soul, my secrets, and my outward words—all have believed in you." So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "All praise is due to Allah who guided you to this religion, which is exalted and none can overcome it. Allah does not accept from anyone except with prayer, and He does not accept prayer except with the Qur'an." Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) taught him Surah al-Fatiha and Surah al-Ikhlas. He said: "I have never heard any speech, whether in prose or poetry, better than this." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "This is the speech of the Lord of the worlds; it is not poetry. And when you recited ﴿قُلْ هُوَ اللّٰهُ أَحَدٌ﴾ once, it is as if you have recited one third of the Qur'an. When you recite Surah al-Ikhlas twice, it is as if you have recited two thirds of the Qur'an. And when you recite ﴿قُلْ هُوَ اللّٰهُ أَحَدٌ﴾ three times, it is as if you have recited the entire Qur'an." The Bedouin said: "Our Lord is very generous; He accepts little and grants much." Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Give something to the Bedouin." So they gave him so much that it was more than he could carry. Then Sayyiduna Abdur Rahman ibn Awf (may Allah be pleased with him) stood up and said: "O Messenger of Allah! I want to give him a she-camel for the sake of attaining closeness to Allah, which will be just a little less than a Bactrian camel and superior to the Bedouin's, and will be ten months pregnant." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "You have described what you will give; now I will describe what Allah will give you." He said: "Please tell me." So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "You will have a broad pearl she-camel whose feet will be of green chrysolite, its neck will be of yellow chrysolite, it will have a howdah, and on it will be fine silk and brocade, which will carry you across the Bridge of Sirat as swiftly as a flash of lightning." Then the Bedouin left the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and met a thousand Bedouins who were mounted on a thousand animals, with a thousand spears and a thousand swords. He asked them: "Where are you intending to go?" They said: "We are going to fight that liar who claims Prophethood." So the Bedouin said: "I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is the Messenger of Allah." They said: "You too have become irreligious." He said: "I have not become irreligious." Then he narrated his entire story to them, so all of them said: "There is no god but Allah and Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is the Messenger of Allah." When this news reached the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), he met them wrapped in a cloak, so they dismounted from their rides and began to kiss the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: "La ilaha illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah," and said: "O Messenger of Allah! Give us your command." So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Gather under the banner of Khalid ibn Walid." The narrator said: "There is no tribe in Arabia except this tribe of Banu Sulaym, whose one thousand people accepted faith together."