Once an Arab from the desert came to the Prophet, peace be upon him and his progeny, and said: “By Allah! We have come to you while we neither have a shrieking camel nor a snoring sheep.”
Then he presented the following verses: “O best of all the creatures, we have come to you, that you may show mercy to us for the hardship we face!
We have come to you while the maiden girls bleed from their breasts (because of hard labour), and the suckling mother is distressed from her baby.
And a young man submits with both his palms, to receive anything bitter or sweet, weakened by hunger.
Nothing that a human can consume is left with us, except the common bitter colocynth and the fluffy saplings, so we have no refuge but with you, and where can people seek refuge but with the Prophets.”
So the Prophet, peace be upon him and his progeny, turned to his companions and said: “This Arab is complaining of shortage of rainfall and severe famine.” Then he rose putting together his clock and climbed up the pulpit. After praising and lauding Allah thus: “All praise to Allah Who when He rose to the heavens became exalted, and on the earth became close – closer to us than the jugular vein.”
Then he raised his hands towards the heaven and said: “O Allah, send upon us rain which would give us relief and which would be savory, productive, abundant, pervading, immediate, without any delay. Let it be beneficial without any harm, which would fill the udder and cause the produce to grow from the earth; it would give life to earth after it had died.” His hands had not come back to his chest when the clouds encircled Madinah like a crown, and the sky became overcast.
Then the people of the valleys came to the Prophet shouting: “We will drown, we will drown.” So the Prophet, peace be upon him and his progeny uttered: “Around us and not upon us.” So the clouds in the sky dissipated. Then the Prophet, peace be upon him and his progeny, smiled and said: “How good was Abu Talib. Had he been alive, his eyes would have cooled. Who will recite to us his verses?”
Then Umar ibn al-Khattab rose and said: “O messenger of Allah, perhaps you mean this verse”:-
“No she-camel has carried on her saddle any load, more kind and more dutiful than the person of Muhammad.”
The Prophet, peace be upon him and his progeny, said: “That was not said by Abu Talib, that is from Hassan ibn Thabit.” Then ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib, peace he upon him, stood up and said: “Perhaps you meant this, O messenger of Allah!”:-
“And the bright one from whose face, the clouds pour forth to relieve the orphans and protect the poor widows, The one to whom the ruined men from Banu Hashim resort, While he is among them bounteous, and man of many virtues. By the sacred House of Allah, you have lied when you said: ‘We will surpass Muhammad,’ and when you said: ‘we will fight him.’
We will indeed protect him till we are knocked down around him, unmindful of our own children and our wives.” The Prophet, peace be upon him and his progeny said: “Yes, that is it.” Then a man from the Banu Kananah stood up and said:
“Praise to you, and all praise to Him Who is All-Rewarding, We were blessed with rain because of the Prophet. He prayed to Allah, His Creator, And turned his eyes unto Him;
And before his glance returned, or quicker, the rain poured forth upon us. Bustling forth in abundance and exuberant, with which Allah succoured the prominent people of Mudhar. So it was the way his uncle had said,
his uncle Abu Talib, a man of exceeding grace; (he said): ‘By his face shall Allah pour forth from the clouds,’ so this is the witness and that was the information.” The Prophet, peace be upon him and his progeny, said: “May Allah lodge you, O Kanani, for every couplet you have said, in a chamber in Paradise.”