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Imaam Abu Na`eem narrates in al-Hilyah, from Yahyaa ibn `Abdil Hameed al-Himmaani, who said: I was in a Majlis (gathering) of Sufyaan ibn `Uyaynah, and approximately 1,000 people gathered around him. At the end of the Majlis, he turned towards a man who was sitting on his right side and said to him, "Stand up and narrate to the people the story of the snake." The man said: "Give me something to recline against." So we reclined him against something. His eyelids rose, and he said: "Take note. Listen and comprehend. My father narrated to me from my grandfather, that there was a man who was known as Muhammad ibn Himyar, and he was a pious man who used to fast the days and stand in Salaah at night, and he was a man who was very skilful in hunting with the bow. One day, he went out hunting, and he came across a snake. The snake said to him: "O Muhammad ibn Himyar, save me, may Allaah save you." He said to the snake: "(Save you) from whom?" The snake said: "From an enemy of mine who is looking for me." He said to it: "Where is this enemy of yours?" The snake said: "Behind me." He said to it: "Which Ummah are you from?" It said: "From the Ummah of Muhammad
صلى الله عليه وسلم. We testify that there is no Ilaah except Allaah." He said: "So I opened my cloak and said to it, enter inside of it." The snake said: "My enemy will see me." He said: "I opened my garments and said: Enter between my garments and my stomach." The snake said: "My enemy will see me." I said to it: "What should I do with you, then?" It said: "If you wish to do good, then open your mouth so that I may flow into it." He said: "I fear that you will kill me." The snake said: "No, by Allaah, I will not kill you. Allaah is a Witness upon me with regards to that, and so are His Malaa'ikah, and His Ambiyaa, and the Bearers of His `Arsh (Throne), and the inhabitants of His Heavens, were I to kill you." I was thus contented with the oath it had taken, so I opened my mouth and it flowed inside. I then carried on and a man bumped into me, and with him was a
Samsaamah (certain kind of sword). He said to me, "O Muhammad!" I asked him: "What do you want?" He asked: "Have you encountered my enemy? I asked: "And who is your enemy?" He said: "A snake." I said: "O Allaah, no." So I sought Istighfaar from my Rabb 100 times for saying that despite knowing where the snake is. Thereafter, I carried on for a little while, when suddenly the snake put its head out of my mouth and said: "Look and see if this enemy has passed." I looked and did not see anyone. I said: "I don't see anyone. If you intend to leave, then leave." It said: "Now, O Muhammad, choose one of two choices: Either I rip up your liver, or I pierce your heart and leave you without a Rooh." I said: "
Sub-haanallaah! Where is the pledge which you had taken with me and the oath which you took? How quickly you have forgotten them!" It said: "O Muhammad, why have you forgotten the enmity which exists between me and your father, Aadam, since I led him astray and took him out from the paradise? How can you intend to do good to other than its people (i.e. people who are not deserving of good)?" I said to it: "Is it necessary for you to kill me?" It said: "It is necessary." I said to it: "Then give me a little while so that I can go to the bottom of this mountain and prepare a place for myself?" It said: "Go ahead." Muhammad (ibn Himyar) said: "So I carried on, intending to head to the mountain and I had despaired of life. I raised my eyes to the heavens and said:
يَالَطِيْفُ يَالَطِيْفُ يَالَطِيْفُ أُلْطُفْ بِيْ بِلُطْفِكَ الخَفِيِّ يَالَطِيْفُ, بِالْقُدْرَةِ الّتِيْ اسْتَوَيْتَ بِهَا عَلَى الْعَرْشِ فَلَمْ يَعْلَمِ الْعَرْشُ أَيْنَ مُسْتَقَرُّكَ مِنْهُ إِلّا كَفَيْتَنِيْ هَذِهِ الحَيَّةَ
Yaa Lateef, Yaa Lateef, Yaa Lateef, Ultuf bee bi-Lutfikal Khafiyy, Yaa Lateef, bil-Qudratillatis-tawayta bihaa `alal `Arsh fa-lam Ya`lamil `Arshu Ayna Mustaqarruka minhu, illaa Kafaytanee Haadhihil Hayyah.
(O One Who is most subtle and most kind, O One Who is most subtle and most kind, O One Who is most subtle and most kind, confer Your most subtle kindness upon me, O One Who is most subtle and most kind, by the Power through which You had
Istiwaa over the `Arsh, and the `Arsh did not know where You are with regards to it, I ask that You suffice me from this snake." Thereafter, I continued walking and a man bumped into me who was clean in body and had a pleasant scent. He said to me, "
Salaamun `Alayk." I said: "
Wa `Alaykas Salaam, brother." He asked me: "Why do I see that your colour has changed?" I said: "Because of an enemy that has wronged me." He asked: "And where is your enemy?" I said: "In my stomach." He said to me: "Open your mouth." I opened it, and he placed something inside which was like the leaf of an olive tree, green, and then he said: "Chew and swallow." I chewed and swallowed, and very shortly thereafter, my stomach started to pain, and it (the snake) moved around in my stomach, and I began to vomit it out, piece by piece." I hugged the man and said: "Brother, who are you, that Allaah has favoured me through you?" He laughed and then said, "Do you not recognise me?" I said, "O Allaah, no." He said, "O Muhammad ibn Himyar, when the incident that took place between you and the snake happened, and you called upon Allaah Ta`aalaa with that Du`aa, the Malaa'ikah of the seven heavens called out to Allaah `Azza wa Jall, and He said: "By My Honour and My Majesty, and by My Generosity and My Loftiness in the Loftiness of My Place, I have seen everything which the snake did with My slave." Allaah Sub-haanahu wa Ta`aalaa then commanded me, and I am known as al-Ma`roof (the one of goodness), and I live in the fourth heaven, that: 'Go to Jannah, take from it a green leaf, and take it to My slave, Muhammad ibn Himyar.' O Muhammad ibn Himyar, always do good (to others), because it saves one from an evil death, and (know that) even if (the good you have done) is lost to the one to whom it was done, it is not lost to Allaah `Azza wa Jall."
