حَدَّثَنَا الصَّلْتُ بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ، قَالَ سَمِعْتُ مَهْدِيَّ بْنَ مَيْمُونٍ، قَالَ سَمِعْتُ أَبَا رَجَاءٍ الْعُطَارِدِيَّ، يَقُولُ
كُنَّا نَعْبُدُ الْحَجَرَ، فَإِذَا وَجَدْنَا حَجَرًا هُوَ أَخْيَرُ مِنْهُ أَلْقَيْنَاهُ وَأَخَذْنَا الآخَرَ، فَإِذَا لَمْ نَجِدْ حَجَرًا جَمَعْنَا جُثْوَةً مِنْ تُرَابٍ، ثُمَّ جِئْنَا بِالشَّاةِ فَحَلَبْنَاهُ عَلَيْهِ، ثُمَّ طُفْنَا بِهِ، فَإِذَا دَخَلَ شَهْرُ رَجَبٍ قُلْنَا مُنَصِّلُ الأَسِنَّةِ. فَلاَ نَدَعُ رُمْحًا فِيهِ حَدِيدَةٌ وَلاَ سَهْمًا فِيهِ حَدِيدَةٌ إِلاَّ نَزَعْنَاهُ وَأَلْقَيْنَاهُ شَهْرَ رَجَبٍ.
وَسَمِعْتُ أَبَا رَجَاءٍ، يَقُولُ كُنْتُ يَوْمَ بُعِثَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم غُلاَمًا أَرْعَى الإِبِلَ عَلَى أَهْلِي، فَلَمَّا سَمِعْنَا بِخُرُوجِهِ فَرَرْنَا إِلَى النَّارِ إِلَى مُسَيْلِمَةَ الْكَذَّابِ.
Narrated Abu Raja Al-Utaridi:
We used to worship stones, and when we found a better stone than the first one, we would throw the first one and take the latter, but if we could not get a stone then we would collect some earth (i.e. soil) and then bring a sheep and milk that sheep over it, and perform the Tawaf around it. When the month of Rajab came, we used (to stop the military actions), calling this month the iron remover, for we used to remove and throw away the iron parts of every spear and arrow in the month of Rajab. Abu Raja' added: When the Prophet (ﷺ) sent with (Allah's) Message, I was a boy working as a shepherd of my family camels. When we heard the news about the appearance of the Prophet, we ran to the fire, i.e. to Musailima al-Kadhdhab.
Reported by Al-Bukhari (No. 4376).