One of the Messenger of God’s (peace and blessings be upon him) servants was also Esla b. Sharik b. ʿAwf al-Aʿrajī.
Muḥammad b. Saʿd said: His name was Maymūn b. Sanbāz. Rabīʿ b. Badir al-Aʿrajī, through his father, narrated that Esla said as follows:
“I used to serve the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and accompany him on journeys. One night, he said to me:
– O Esla, get up so we may set out. I told him that I was in a state of janāba (major ritual impurity). He remained silent for a while. Then Gabriel brought him the verse (āya) regarding tayammum (dry ablution). After that, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
– O Esla, get up and perform tayammum. So I got up, performed tayammum, and prayed. When we saw water on the road, the Messenger of God said to me:
– O Esla, get up and perform ghusl (full ritual washing).
The Messenger of God also showed me how to perform tayammum. He struck his hands on the earth, then shook them off, then wiped his face with his hands. Then he struck his hands on the earth again, shook them off, and wiped his forearms (up to the elbows) with his hands. With his right hand, he wiped his left forearm, and with his left hand, his right forearm, both inside and outside.”
Rabīʿ, one of the transmitters of the hadith, says: Just as the Messenger of God showed Esla how to perform tayammum, so Esla showed his son, and he showed his son, and my father showed me in the same way. Rabīʿ says: I related this hadith to ʿAwf b. Abī Jamīla, and he said:
– Yes, by Allah, I saw that Ḥasan did it in this way as well.