94. From him, from Ismail Bin Abaan, from Umar Bin Abdullah Al-Saqafy who said: ‘Hisham Bin Abdul Malik made Abu Ja’far to go out from Al-Medina to Al-Shaam. He made him to stay in his accommodation, and he used to sit with the people in their gatherings. It so happened that he was sitting and in his presence was a group of people asking him, when he saw Christians entering inside a mountain over there. So he said: ‘What is with those, is it one of their festivities today?’ They said, ‘No, O son of the Rasool ﷺ Allah (azwj), but they are going to one of their scholars who (stays) inside this mountain all year long, and on this day he has come out. So they are asking him questions what they want and what is to happen in their year’. So Abu Ja’far said: ‘And he has knowledge?’ They said, ‘He is one of the most knowledgeable of the people. He has met the companions of the disciples of Isa ’. He said: ‘Shall we go to him?’ They said, ‘That is up to you , O son of the Rasool ﷺ Allah (azwj)’. He (the narrator) said: ‘Abu Ja’far covered his head by his cloth, and went with his companions. He mingled with the Christians until he came to the mountain. Abu Ja’far sat down in the middle of the Christians along with his companions, and the Christians brought out a carpet and placed the pillows. Then they entered and brought him out with his eyes covered. His eyes stirred as if they were the eyes of a snake. Then he inadvertently turned towards Abu Ja’far and asked, ‘O Sheykh, where are you from, or are you from the Mercied community?’ So Abu Ja’far said: ‘But, I am from the Mercied community’. He said, ‘Are you from their knowledgeable ones or from their ignorant ones?’ He said: ‘I am not from the ignorant ones’. The Christian said, ‘Shall I ask you or you will ask me?’ Abu Ja’far said: ‘Ask me ’. So the Christian said, ‘O group of Christians, a man from the community of Muhammad ﷺ is saying, ‘Ask me!’. This one is full of answers’. Then he said, ‘O servant of Allah (azwj), inform me about the hour which is neither from the night, nor from the day. Which hour is it?’ Abu Ja’far said: ‘That which is in between the dawn and sunrise’. So the Christian said, ‘So if it is neither an hour from the hours of the night, nor from the hours of the day, from which is it?’ Abu Ja’far said: ‘From the hours of the Paradise, and in which our patients are relieved (from pain). So the Christian said, ‘Shall I ask you or will you ask me?’ Abu Ja’far said: ‘Ask me ’. The Christian said, ‘O group of Christians, this one here is full of knowledge. Inform me about the inhabitants of the Paradise. How would they be eating but will not be excreting? Give me their example in the world’. So Abu Ja’far said: ‘The unborn (baby) which is in the womb of its mother eats from what its mother eats but does not excrete’. So the Christian said, ‘Did you not say, ‘I am not from the knowledgeable ones?’ Abu Ja’far said: ‘But rather, I said to you that I am not from the ignorant ones’. So the Christian said, ‘Shall I ask you or will you ask me?’ Abu Ja’far said: ‘Ask me ’. He said, ‘O group of Christians! By Allah (azwj), I will ask him about a matter which would bog him down just as the donkey gets bogged down in the mud’. He said to him: ‘Ask’. He said, ‘Inform me about a man who approached his woman, so she became pregnant with twins in the same one hour, and gave birth to both of them in the same one hour, and they both died in the same one hour, and were buried in the same one grave. One of them lived for one hundred and fifty years whilst the other one lived for fifty years. Who were those two?’ So Abu Ja’far said: ‘Uzayr and Uzrat. Their mother became pregnant with them both as you have described, and gave birth to both of them as you have described, and both Uzayr and Uzrat lived for such and such a time. Then Allah (azwj) Blessed and High Made Uzayr to die for a hundred years, then Resurrected him, and he lived with Uzrat for fifty years, and both of them died in the same one hour’. So the Christian said, ‘O group of Christians. I have not see with my eyes ever a more knowledgeable one than this man . Do not ask me about a single letter (anything at all) so long as this one is in Al-Shaam. Return me’. He (the narrator) said, ‘So they returned him to his cave, and the Christians returned with Abu Ja’far ’.