Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah

Abu Majliz narrates that Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) came to Abdullah bin Salam and said, "I want to ask you about three things." He replied, "You are asking me, even though you yourself recite the Qur'an?" He said, "Yes!" He (Abdullah bin Salam) said, "Ask." He (Ibn Abbas) asked, "Tell me about Tubba‘ — who was he? And about Uzair — who was he? And about Solomon (peace be upon him) — why did he search for the hoopoe bird?" He replied, "Tubba‘ was a man from among the Arabs. He prevailed over the people and captured many Christian scholars and would converse with them. His people began to say that Tubba‘ has abandoned your religion and has started following the slaves. So Tubba‘ said to those slaves, 'Do you hear what the people are saying?' They replied, 'Between us and you, the fire will decide; it will burn the liar and the truthful will be saved.' He said, 'Alright.' So Tubba‘ said to those slaves, 'Enter this fire.' So they entered it, and the fire singed their faces, and they turned back. He said, 'You must enter.' So they entered it, and when they reached its midst, the fire surrounded them and burned them. Upon this, Tubba‘ accepted Islam, and he was a righteous man.

As for Uzair, his story is that when Bayt al-Maqdis was ruined, knowledge was lost, and the Torah was torn into pieces, he used to live alone in the mountains and would go to a spring and drink water from it. One day, when he came to it, he saw a woman. When he saw her, he turned back. When thirst troubled him, he came again and saw the woman crying. He said, 'Why are you crying?' She said, 'I am crying for my son.' He said, 'Did he provide you with sustenance?' She said, 'No.' He said, 'Did he create anything?' She said, 'No.' He said, 'Then do not cry for him.' She said, 'Who are you? Do you want to go to your people? Enter this spring, and you will reach them.' So he entered it, and the more he entered, the more his knowledge increased, until he reached his people. Allah restored his knowledge to him, and he revived the Torah and revived knowledge. After this, Abdullah bin Salam said, 'This is the story of Uzair.'

As for Solomon (peace be upon him), he halted at a place during a journey and was unaware of the distance to water. He asked, 'Who knows about it?' The people informed him that the hoopoe bird does. At that time, he searched for it.