Allah, nor of the Moslems, (he may have said 'nor of his Book'); rather am I the enemy of him who has enmity against them. The money, I have got from horses that multiplied in number and from different shares that mounted up.' ʿUmar then took from me 12,000. In my morning prayer I repeated, 'Lord forgive ʿUmar.' After this, ʿUmar used to take from the people of al-Baḥrain and give them back more than what he would take. At last ʿUmar asked me, 'Wouldst thou not act as ʿâmil, abu-Hurairah?' and I replied 'No,' to which he answered, 'And why not? Better men than thou were made ʿamils, for instance Joseph,[1] who said, " Set me over the granaries of the land." To this I replied, ' Joseph was a prophet and the son of a prophet, whereas I am abu-Hurairah, son of Umaimah, and I am afraid of three things and of two things that thou mayest bring upon me.' 'And why,' said ʿUmar, 'didst thou not say five ?' 'I fear that thou dost whip my back, defame my honor, and take my money; and I hate to speak without meekness and to rule without knowledge.'"
Al-Ḳasim ibn-Sallâm and Rauh ibn-ʿAbd-al-Muʾmin from abu-Hurairah:—When abu-Hurairah returned from al-Baḥrain, ʿUmar said to him, "O thou enemy of Allah and enemy of his Book; hast thou stolen the money of Allah?" "Neither am I", replied abu-Hurairah, "the enemy of Allah, nor of his Book; rather am I the enemy of him who has enmity against them. I did not steal the money of Allah." "How then," said ʿUmar, "did 10,000 dirhams come to thee?" "Through horses" said abu-Hurairah, "that reproduced and stipends that came in successions and shares that mounted up." ʿUmar took the money from him. The rest of the tradition is similar to what is reported by abu-Hilâl.[2]
