Al-Kāfi 4, narration 14

Translation

3. Ali ibn Muhammad has narrated from Ahmad ibn Muhammad from Muhammad ibn Ali from ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad al- Asadiy from Salim ibn Mukram who has said the following: “Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), has said, ‘One day a Jewish man passed by the Holy Prophet, who said, “Assam Alaykum,” and the Messenger of Allah, O Allah, grant compensation to Muhammad and his family worthy of their services to Your cause, said, “Wa ‘Alayka” (the same to you). His companions said, ‘What the Jewish person said meant “death to you.’” The Holy Prophet said, ‘I said the same to you.’ The Holy Prophet then said, ‘A black serpent will bite him (Jewish man) on his back, and it will kill him.’ The Jewish man went and collected a great deal of firewood, then carried it on his back; after a short while, he returned. The Messenger of Allah asked him to leave his firewood on the ground. He agreed, not realizing there was a black serpent biting on a twig inside the bunch of firewood. The Messenger of Allah asked, ‘What did you do today, Jewish man?’ He replied, ‘I did not do anything other than collecting this firewood and moving. While returning, I ate one of the two cakes I had, and gave the other one as charity to a destitute person.’ The Messenger of Allah said, ‘Because of that charity, Allah protected you. Giving charity repels bad forms of death from man.’”

Translation: Muhammad Sarwar — published with the edition, reproduced verbatim.