ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rawāḥa

Ṣāliḥ ibn Saʿīd ibn Mirdās al-Tirmidhī related to us: Ṣāliḥ ibn Muḥammad al-Tirmidhī related to us: Zāfir ibn Sulaymān related to us, from Abū Ḥanīfa—may God be pleased with him—from ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ: A man among the Prophet’s companions—God bless him and grant him peace, and may He be pleased with them—related to him that ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rawāḥa instructed the shepherdess to care for a particular sheep he had identified for her and fatten it. When the sheep had grown fat, the shepherdess lost it, and he slapped her. He mentioned this to the Messenger of God—God bless him and grant him peace. The Prophet—God bless him and grant him peace—regarded it as grave and said, ‘You strike the face of a believing woman!’ He said, ‘She is a black shepherdess.’ The Prophet—God bless him and grant him peace—sent for her and asked, ‘Where is God?’ She said, ‘In heaven.’ He said, ‘Who am I?’ She said, ‘You are God’s Messenger—God bless him and grant him peace.’ He said, ‘She is a believer.’ He then freed her. Zāfir said: I heard Abū Ḥanīfa—may God have mercy on him—relate from ʿAṭāʾ that he said, ‘Call yourselves believers, but do not say, “We are among the people of Paradise.” This was the position on which I left Muḥammad’s companions: they used to say that faith is affirmation, and that sins do not render those who commit them unbelievers.’