Hadith No: 2
Ahmad ibn Hanbal - Musnad al-Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal
Remaining Musnad of the Ansar - Hadith of Baridah al-Aslami (r)
Volume: (5) - Page Number: (350/351)
22458 - Yahya ibn Sa'id narrated to us, who said: Abdul Jalil narrated to us, and he said: I reached a circle in which Abu Mujlaz and Ibn Baridah were present.
Then Abdullah ibn Baridah said, "My father Baridah narrated to me, that he hated Ali with a hatred that no one had ever hated him before." He continued, "And I loved a man from Quraysh with a love that I had never felt except for his hatred of Ali." He said: That man was then sent with cavalry, and I accompanied him, but I did so only in relation to his hatred of Ali. He said: We encountered some captives, and he wrote to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his holy progeny), "Send us someone to take a fifth." He said: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his holy progeny) sent us Ali, and among the captives was a maidservant who was better than the captives. He took a fifth and divided it, and his head was covered. So we said, "O Abu al-Hasan, what is this?" He replied, "Did you not see the maidservant who was in the captives? I have divided and taken a fifth, and it has become part of the fifth, then it became part of the family of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his holy progeny), and then it became part of the family of Ali, and I am now bound to her." Then the man wrote to the Prophet of Allah (peace be upon him and his holy progeny), and I said, "Send me," and he sent me as a confirmer. He said: So I began to read the letter and say, "True," and he held my hand and the letter and said, "Do you hate Ali?" I said, "Yes." He replied, "Then do not hate him, even if you love him. Instead, increase your love for him, for by the One in whose hand is the soul of Muhammad, the share of the family of Ali in the fifth is better than that of any maidservant." Abdullah said: By the One who is not God but Him, there was no one between me and the Prophet (peace be upon him and his holy progeny) in this narration except my father Baridah.