English translation
(1). 3305. Al-Hasan bin Muhammad - and he is Ibn Al-Hanafiyyah - narrated from 'Ubaidullāh bin Abī Rāfi' who said: 'I heard 'Ali bin Abī Tālib saying: 'The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ dispatched us - myself, Az-Zubair, and Al-Miqād bin Al-Aswad. He said: "Proceed until you reach Rawḍah Khākh, where there is a lady carrying a letter. Take the letter from her and bring it to me." So we proceeded on our way with our horses galloping until we reached the Rawḍah. There we found the lady and said to her: "Give me the letter." She said: "I have no letter." We said: "Either you take out the letter, or we shall take off your clothes." He said: 'So she took it out of her braid.' He said: 'We brought it to the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ, and it was from Hāṭib bin Abī Balta'ah, addressed to some of people among the idolaters of Makkah, informing them of some matter regarding the Prophet ﷺ. So he said: "What is this O Hāṭib?" He said: "Do not be hasty with me O Messenger of Allāh! I was a person who is an ally to the Quraish, not being related to them. The Muhājirīn who are with you have relatives who can protect their families and their wealth in Makkah. So since I have no lineage among them, I wanted to do them a favor, so they might protect my relatives. I did not do this out of disbelief, nor to renegade from my religion, nor did I do it to choose disbelief [after Islam]." The Prophet ﷺ said: "He said the truth." Umar bin Al-Khaṭṭāb said: "Allow me to chop off the head of this hypocrite!" The Prophet ﷺ said: "Indeed he participated in (the battle of) Badr. You do not know, perhaps Allāh looked at those who attended Badr and said: 'O people of Badr! Do as you like, for I have forgiven you.'" He said: 'It was about him, that this Sūrah was revealed: O you who believe! Do not take My enemies and your enemies as protecting friends showing affection towards them.”[1] (Ṣaḥīḥ) ‘Amr (who narrated it from Al-Ḥasan) said: “I saw Ibn Abī Rāfi’, and he was the scribe for ‘Alī [bin Abī Tālib].” [Abū ‘Eisā said:] This Hadīth is Ḥasan Ṣaḥīḥ. There is something about it from ‘Umar and Jābir bin ‘Abdullāh. More than one narrated this Hadīth from Sufyān bin ‘Uyainah similarly, and they mentioned this wording; they said: “Either you take out the letter, or we shall take off your clothes (to search for the letter).” It has also been related from Abū ‘Abdur-Raḥmān [bin Yaḥya] As-Sulamī, from ‘Alī bin Abī Tālib, and it is similar to this Hadīth. And some of them mentioned in it: “[He said:] ‘Either you take out the letter, or we shall strip you (to search for the letter).’”