Mu'jam Kabir Tabarani 18416 — I set out as an emigrant

Sayyiduna Wathilah bin al-Asqa' (may Allah be pleased with him) says: I set out as an emigrant to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). When the people were coming towards him (peace and blessings be upon him), some leaving and some standing, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) would not see anyone seated without going near him and asking: "Do you have any need?" He (peace and blessings be upon him) began with the first row, then the second, then the third, until he came near me and said: "Do you have any need?" I said: "Yes, O Messenger of Allah." He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "What is your need?" I said: "Islam." He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "That is better for you." He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "And will you emigrate?" I said: "Yes." He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The emigration of the desert, or the definitive (battah) emigration?" I said: "Which of them is better?" He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The definitive emigration is that you remain firm with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him); and the emigration of the desert is that you return to your desert, and you remain upon hearing and obeying, in your hardship and your ease, in what you dislike and what you are eager for, and even when others are preferred over you." I stretched out my hand to him (peace and blessings be upon him) and pledged allegiance to him. He (peace and blessings be upon him) himself made for me the exception that I had not made for myself, saying: "As far as you are able." Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) called out for the Expedition of Tabuk, so I went to my family and found my father sitting in the sun with his back to it. I greeted him with the greeting of Islam, and he said: "Have you abandoned your religion?" I said: "I have become a Muslim." He said: "Perhaps Allah will place some good in it for you and for us." I was content with that from him. While I was still with him, my sister came to greet me. I said: "O sister, give me the provisions that a woman gives her brother when he goes out to fight." She brought me kneaded dough in a bucket, and the bucket was in a provisions bag. I set off, but the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) had already left, so I began calling out: "Is there anyone who will give a mount to a man, and he will get his share (of the spoils)?" An elder of the Ansar called out to me and said: "We will take his share, on condition that we carry him behind us and his food is with us." I said: "Very well, go forth with the blessing of Allah." So I set out with that best of companions of mine, who gave me more riding than we had agreed, and gave me food especially, besides his own food, until Allah granted us spoils and I received some young she-camels. I drove them until I brought them to him while he was in his tent. I called him and he came out and sat on one of the saddle-bags of his camels, then said: "Drive them away from me so I can see," and I drove them away. Then he said: "Drive them towards me so I can see," and I drove them towards him. He said: "These she-camels of yours look very fine indeed." I said: "This is only the spoils that I agreed to give you." He said: "Take your she-camels, O my nephew; we sought something other than your share (that is, the reward)."