Al-Adab Al-Mufrad
Al-Adab Al-Mufrad 879
حَدَّثَنَا آدَمُ، قَالَ: حَدَّثَنَا شُعْبَةُ، عَنْ قَتَادَةَ قَالَ: سَمِعْتُ أَنَسَ بْنَ مَالِكٍ يَقُولُ: كَانَ فَزَعٌ بِالْمَدِينَةِ، فَاسْتَعَارَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَرَسًا لأَبِي طَلْحَةَ، يُقَالُ لَهُ: الْمَنْدُوبُ، فَرَكِبَهُ، فَلَمَّا رَجَعَ قَالَ: مَا رَأَيْنَا مِنْ شَيْءٍ، وَإِنْ وَجَدْنَاهُ لَبَحْرًا.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Adam related to us, saying: Shu‘ba related to us, from Qatada, who said: I heard Anas ibn Malik say: There was an alarm in Madina, so the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, borrowed a horse belonging to Abu Talha called al-Mandub and rode it. When he returned, he said: “We saw nothing, though we found it to be a sea.”
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
“A sea” is a metaphor for the horse’s speed or strength.