He drove them back to the gate and killed heroes and brave men among them. Then he returned from the midst of the dust-cloud, and he had nothing with him except a cluster of grapes. He brought it to me while my thirst had grown intense and said to me: 'Draw near.' I drew near and offered him peace, so he handed the cluster of grapes to me and I ate it. Then he charged a second time, killing heroes and annihilating brave men, then returned to me from the midst of the dust-cloud with nothing.

I said: 'O my Master, give me more of the grapes.' He said: 'O Rozaba, had the horseman in your land of Persia given you more, your Master would have given you more here.' My Master Amir Almuminin thus reminded me of an affair from two hundred and eighty years ago." Uthman ibn Maz'un said: I asked: "O my lord, and what was that affair?"

He replied: "I was in a city known as Ram-Hormuz, and I had gone out with some youths to fight the sons of Persia, who were four hundred thousand horsemen. When we were in the middle of the wilderness, a horseman emerged to us riding a grey horse and girded with a sharp sword. He let out a shout at us that almost caused our internal organs¹ to burst from the greatness of his voice. He killed heroes from among us and annihilated brave men. I was seized by weakness and terror, so he shouted at me: 'O Rozaba, bish man biya'—meaning: 'draw near to me.' I drew near to his proximity. Then he charged at the army and let out a shout that almost caused the organs to burst; he returned with a cluster of grapes, handed it to me and said: 'Eat.' I ate it, and my fear was calmed. Then he charged a third time at the folk and crushed them while they were crying out: 'Zinhar, Zinhar' (Mercy! Mercy!). Then their voices went silent, and he came to me with no grapes left. He said to me: 'O Rozaba, I am naming you Salsal.' Then he vanished from the folk. He reminded me of that at the Battle of the Chains when I saw him in that same form, riding a grey horse and girded with a solid sword—He being the one who fed me in the land of Persia and the one who fed me in the Hijaz."