Al-Mu'jam al-Awsat 5996 — from his father, Sayyiduna Umar bin

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrates from his father, Sayyiduna Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), "the hadith of the dabb (lizard)": The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was sitting in a gathering of his Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) when a Bedouin of Banu Sulaym came, who had caught a lizard and was keeping it in his sleeve. He was on his way to his camp when he saw a crowd of people, so he asked: "Around whom is this crowd?" The people said: "Around this man who claims to be a prophet." So he pushed his way through the people, came before the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: "O Muhammad! Women have never borne anyone with a more lying tongue than you, nor anyone more hateful than you. Were it not that my people would call me hasty, I would have rushed at you and killed you, and by killing you I would have made all the people happy." Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "O Messenger of Allah! Allow me to kill him." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Do you not know that the forbearing man is close to being a prophet?" Then the Bedouin turned to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) again and said: "By al-Lat and al-Uzza! I will never believe in you." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: "O Bedouin! What made you say what you said? You spoke what is not the truth and did not honour my gathering." Mocking the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), he said: "So you even speak to me? By al-Lat and al-Uzza! I will not believe in you, unless this lizard believes in you!" Then he took the lizard out of his sleeve, threw it in front of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: "If this lizard believes in you, I too will believe." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "O lizard!" The lizard answered in clear Arabic speech, which everyone present understood: "Labbayka wa sa'dayka ya rasula rabbil-'alamin" (Here I am at your service, again and again, O Messenger of the Lord of the worlds!). The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) asked it: "Whom do you worship?" It said: "Him whose Throne is in the heaven, whose dominion is in the earth, whose path is in the sea, whose mercy is in Paradise and whose punishment is in Hellfire." He (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: "O lizard! Then who am I?" It said: "You are the Messenger of the Lord of the worlds and the Seal of the Prophets. Whoever believes you has succeeded, and whoever denies you has failed and lost." Then the Bedouin said: "Ashhadu an la ilaha illallah, wa annaka rasulullahi haqqan (I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and that you are truly the Messenger of Allah). I came to you when there was no one on the face of the earth more hateful to me than you, and by Allah, now you are dearer to me than my own self and my parents. I have believed in you with every hair of mine, my skin, my inner and outer self, and my secret and open self." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: "All praise is for Allah who guided you to this religion, which prevails and is not prevailed over. Allah does not accept it without prayer, and He does not accept prayer without the Qur'an." Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) taught him Surah al-Fatihah and "Say: He is Allah, the One." He said: "O Messenger of Allah! I have not heard anything better than this, even in poetry of the basit metre or the rajaz." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "This is the speech of the Lord of the worlds; it is not poetry. When you recite 'Say: He is Allah, the One' once, it is as if you have recited one third of the Qur'an; when you recite it twice, it is as if you have recited two thirds of the Qur'an; and when you recite it three times, it is as if you have recited the whole Qur'an." The Bedouin said: "What an excellent God our God is! He accepts a little deed and gives in abundance." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Give this Bedouin something." So the Companions gave him so much that he became overjoyed with wealth. Then Sayyiduna Abdul Rahman bin Awf (may Allah be pleased with him) stood up and said: "O Messenger of Allah! I wish to give him a she-camel by which I seek closeness to Allah, one lower than a Bactrian camel and better than an ordinary Bedouin camel, and she is ten months pregnant." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "You have described what you will give; shall I describe to you what Allah will give you in return?" He said: "Yes." He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "You will have a she-camel made of a hollow pearl, her legs of green emerald and her neck of yellow chrysolite. On her will be a howdah, and on the howdah fine and heavy silk (sundus and istabraq). She will pass over the Sirat like a flash of snatching lightning."
Then the Bedouin left the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and he was met by a thousand Bedouins riding a thousand mounts, with a thousand spears and a thousand swords. He asked them: "Where are you heading?" They said: "We are going to fight this man who lies and claims to be a prophet." The Bedouin said: "Ashhadu an la ilaha illallah, wa anna Muhammadan rasulullah (I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is the Messenger of Allah)." They said: "Have you abandoned your religion?" He said: "I have not abandoned my religion." Then he told them the whole story, and all of them said: "La ilaha illallah, Muhammadun rasulullah (There is no god but Allah; 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 (peace and blessings be upon him) came out to receive them without even his upper cloak. They dismounted from their riding animals and kept kissing whatever part of his (peace and blessings be upon him) blessed body their hands could reach, saying: "La ilaha illallah, Muhammadun rasulullah (There is no god but Allah; Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is the Messenger of Allah)." Then they said: "Give us a command that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) loves." He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "You will be under the banner of Khalid bin al-Walid (may Allah be pleased with him)." The narrator said: Among the Arabs there is no (tribe) other than Banu Sulaym a thousand of whose men believed all together.
Imam al-Tabarani (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "No one narrated this hadith from Dawud bin Abi Hind in this complete detail except Kahmas, and no one narrated it from Kahmas except Mu'tamir; Muhammad bin Abd al-A'la is alone in narrating it."