Salman said: The people went out, and I went out with them. When we were at al-Baqi', Amir Almuminin, Mighty is His Might, stood over a worn-away grave and called out: "Answer, by the One who gives life to bones while they are disintegrated!" The grave split open and there emerged from it a sheikh of immense stature, shaking the dust from his head while saying: "At your service, at your service, O Amir Almuminin and Master of the Successors and the Successor of the Seal of the Prophets. Convey peace to my Master Muhammad and tell him: I bear witness that there is no god but God, and that you, Muhammad, are the Messenger of God, the Seal of the Prophets and the Master of the Messengers, and that your Successor Ali ibn Abi Talib is the best of the Successors. And inform him that a caller called out to me at this hour, saying: 'Rise and bear witness to Muhammad’s message and to his Successor’s successorship, for his people have denied him this day.'"

Amir Almuminin, Mighty is His Might, said to him: "From which people are you?" He said: "From the people of 'Ad, from among the believers. It has been two thousand five hundred years since I died." Amir Almuminin said to him: "Sleep in ease." Amir Almuminin, Mighty is His Might, returned to the Prophet, Mighty is His Might, and recounted the story to him as if he were the sixth among us. The three then said: "O Messenger of God, we only wished to know the news of prophecy, so seek forgiveness for us." He replied: "Of what benefit is my seeking forgiveness for you given your arrogance toward me?" Then God Almighty revealed: {It is all the same for them whether you ask forgiveness for them or do not ask forgiveness for them; never will God forgive them}.

(157) Similar to this is what my sheikh Abu al-Fath Muhammad ibn al-Hasan—may God grant him contentment—narrated to me. He said: Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Yusuf the Judge narrated to me: Muhammad ibn Abd Allah al-Karkhi narrated from his father, who said: I heard the Lord, the Companion of the Army (al-Askar), Mighty is His Might, say: "When the Christians of Najran came to the Messenger of God, Mighty is His Might, they said to him: 'O Muhammad, you bore witness for our companion Jesus that he revived the dead. We have seen in the desert of this city a grave upon which is written the date of the death of the one buried within it; we calculated it and found the deceased has been dead for three thousand years.'"