Abdullāh ibn al-Mubārak (may Allāh have mercy on him) said:
I was in Mecca while they were afflicted with drought.
So the people went out to Masjid al-Haram and prayed for rain, but it did not rain. At the side of me was a black slave.
The black slave said:
❝O Allāh, O Allāh, they have supplicated to You and You did not respond to them. Verily I swear by You that You will give us rain.❞
He (ibn al-Mubārak) said:
❝By Allāh, we did not wait a moment before we were given rain.❞
Then the black slave left. So I followed him until he entered a home of the morticians, so I knew which house it was. In the morning I took some dinars (the local currency) and went to the home, and there was a man at the door.
I said: 'I’m looking for the man of this house.’
He replied: ‘I am him.’
I said: ‘There is a servant of yours I wish to purchase.’
He replied: ‘I have fourteen servants; I will bring them out to you.’ He (ibn al-Mubārak) said: ‘this particular servant was not amongst them,
so I said: “Do you have any more?”’
He said to me: ‘there is a sick youth.’ So he brought him out and he was the black slave. I said: ‘he is the exact one.’ He replied: ‘he is yours Abū Abdur Rahmān.’ So I gave him fourteen Dinār and I took the servant. When we left and took one of the roads.
He said: ❝O master what do you want with me while I am sick?❞ I replied: ‘because of what I saw last night.’
He (ibn al-Mubārak) said: So he (the black servant) leaned on the wall and said: O Allāh, don’t make me famous, take my soul to You. He (al-Mubārak) said: So he fell down dead, and the people of Mecca gathered (to pray over him).
Taken from: Fundamentals of the Creed of Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamā’ah
Translated by Rasheed ibn Estes Barbee
via #mtws -
http://mtws.posthaven.com/ibn-al-mubarak-and-the-black-slave
