Mishkat al-Masabih
Mishkat al-Masabih 1877
وَعَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ: «بَيْنَا رَجُلٌ بِفَلَاةٍ مِنَ الْأَرْضِ فَسَمِعَ صَوْتًا فِي سَحَابَةٍ اسْقِ حَدِيقَةَ فُلَانٍ فَتَنَحَّى ذَلِكَ السَّحَابُ فَأَفْرَغَ مَاءَهُ فِي حَرَّةٍ فَإِذَا شَرْجَةٌ مِنْ تِلْكَ الشِّرَاجِ قَدِ اسْتَوْعَبَتْ ذَلِكَ الْمَاءَ كُلَّهُ فَتَتَبَّعَ الْمَاءَ فَإِذَا رَجُلٌ قَائِمٌ فِي حَدِيقَتِهِ يُحَوِّلُ الْمَاءَ بِمِسْحَاتِهِ فَقَالَ لَهُ يَا عَبْدَ اللَّهِ مَا اسْمُكَ فَقَالَ لَهُ يَا عَبْدَ اللَّهِ لِمَ تَسْأَلُنِي عَنِ اسْمِي فَقَالَ إِنِّي سَمِعْتُ صَوْتًا فِي السَّحَابِ الَّذِي هَذَا مَاؤُهُ يَقُول اسْقِ حَدِيقَةَ فُلَانٍ لِاسْمِكَ فَمَا تَصْنَعُ فِيهَا قَالَ أما إِذْ قُلْتَ هَذَا فَإِنِّي أَنْظُرُ إِلَى مَا يَخْرُجُ مِنْهَا فَأَتَصَدَّقُ بِثُلُثِهِ وَآكُلُ أَنَا وَعِيَالِي ثُلُثًا وأرد فِيهَا ثلثه» . رَوَاهُ مُسلم
Abu Huraira reported that the Prophet ﷺ said: ‘While a man was in an open, barren land, he heard a voice in a cloud saying, “Water the garden of so-and-so.” The cloud moved aside and poured its water onto a lava field. One of the channels there gathered all that water. The man followed the water and found a man standing in his garden, directing the water with his spade. He said to him, “Servant of Allah, what is your name?” He replied, “Servant of Allah, why are you asking me my name?” He said, “I heard a voice in the cloud whose water this is saying, ‘Water the garden of so-and-so,’ using your name. What do you do with it?” The man said, “Since you have told me this, I look at what it yields: I give a third of it in charity, I and my family eat a third, and I put a third back into it.”’ Muslim transmitted it.
Translation notes
The Arabic says the man directs water with a misḥāt, rendered as a spade, and allocates one third each to charity, household consumption, and reinvestment in the garden.