He said: Qays entered the cave, remained but a moment, then emerged carrying two great heads whose weight burdened him. He placed them before our Master—exalted be his glory—while he was riding his mule. He pointed to one of them with a staff in his hand and said to it: "Speak." It said to him: "Forgiveness, O Amir Almuminin, I am Abu Bakr ibn Abi Quhafa." Our Master said: "Speak the truth." It said: "I sat in a seat not my own, I named myself by a name not my own, and I intended to return the command to you and affirm the truth for you, but my devil, Umar, prevented me." Our Master said to it: "Be silent." Then he pointed to the other head with his staff and said to it: "Speak." It said: "Yes, O our Master, O Amir Almuminin, I am Umar ibn al-Khattab; pardon and forgiveness." Our Master said to it: "The appointment is the Day of Disclosure." Then he said: "O Qays, return them to where they were." So I returned them, while he was cursing them.

(246) Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Yusuf the Judge—may God have mercy on him—narrated in the Biography from Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari that our Master Amir Almuminin—exalted be his glory—when he passed through al-Mada'in, stood over a great skull cast upon the road, as large as a millstone. The people marveled at it and said: "O Amir Almuminin, how large this skull is!"

He pointed to it with a rod in his hand and said: "Speak." The skull said: "Yes, O Amir Almuminin, I am Uthman ibn Affan." The people cried out with curses and their talk increased until the skull's speech was hidden from them; they heard nothing further except its saying: "Forgiveness." Our Master—exalted be his glory—said to it: "The appointment is the Day of Disclosure."

(247) It is related that our Master—exalted be his glory—ordered that the Valley of the Boxthorn be searched in its caves and ravines. His companions did so but found nothing. They emerged and informed him of this. Then Amir Almuminin called out: "Come forth, O she-camels," and the she-camels emerged from it.