"Rejoice, Kaʿb ibn Mālik"

Ten days after that, until we reached a total of fifty days from the time the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) forbade everyone to speak to us, I prayed Ṣalāt al-Fajr on the morning of the fiftieth day, on the roof of one of my houses. While I was sitting there, in the state that Allah described in the Qur'an — my soul had become constrained, and the whole earth had become constrained for me — they were feeling constrained; they were feeling the difficulty; they were feeling the sting of the situation — I heard somebody shout out to me; I heard somebody call to me from the mountain of Salʿ, at the top of his voice: O Kaʿb ibn Mālik, rejoice! I immediately fell into sujūd, and I knew that the problem had been resolved, and that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) must have been given word from Allah (swt) that He had accepted our tawbah, after Ṣalāt al-Fajr.

So people went out to give us the good news: some went out to my two companions, while two men came to give me the glad tidings. So two men tried to get the news to me: one of them climbed the mountain, while the other took a horse; but the sound reached me faster than the man on horseback. It was the tradition, when somebody gives you good news, that you give him a gift. So Kaʿb ibn Mālik said: when the one whose voice I had heard from the mountain came to me, I gave him my two garments — and I had nothing but them — and then I had to borrow two other garments to go and meet the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). So I borrowed two garments, put them on, and went to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him); I rushed to him. And people were meeting me in groups, all greeting me and congratulating me on the tawbah of Allah (swt). And then he went into the masjid.

And then Kaʿb ibn Mālik says: when I went to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and greeted him, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said to me, while his face was beaming with happiness: rejoice at the best day you have had since your mother gave birth to you. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was telling Kaʿb ibn Mālik: today is the best day for you since the day you were born. Is this from you, or from Allah? No — this is from Allah; this came down from Allah (swt). When the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was happy, his face would be like the moon. So, subḥān Allāh, one can see how happy the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was at the acceptance of the tawbah of Kaʿb ibn Mālik and his two companions.

And then I told the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him): part of my repentance is that I give away all of my wealth as ṣadaqah, for Allah and for the Messenger of Allah. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: keep some of your wealth; it is better for you. So he said: I will keep my share of Khaybar, from the Battle of Khaybar. He said: O Messenger of Allah, Allah has saved me because of my honesty — because I spoke the truth — and part of my repentance is that I promise to speak only the truth as long as I live. And when Kaʿb was narrating this hadith, he said: and I have been blessed by Allah that since that time I have not spoken a word except the truth.