One day, the Abbasid Caliph, Harun Al-Rashid, decided to perform the Hajj. Upon arriving in Makkah and entering the courtyard of the Kaaba, he began the circumambulation (Tawaf). Everyone else was prevented from performing Tawaf so that the Caliph could do it alone, undisturbed. A nomadic man, however, proceeded ahead of Harun al-Rashid to perform the circumambulation.
The Caliph, displeased, turned to his chamberlain and rebuked him. The chamberlain told the man, “Stop your circumambulation until the Commander of the Faithful has finished.” The Bedouin replied, “God has made the ruler and the ruled equal in this place.” He then quoted a verse from the Quran - “Indeed, those who disbelieve and avert [people] from the way of Allah and [from] al-Masjid al-Haram, which We made for all people, whether resident therein or visitor. And whoever intends [to commit] therein deviation [from truth] or wrongdoing, We will make him taste a painful punishment.”
When Harun Al-Rashid heard this from the Bedouin, he feared God and ordered his chamberlain to allow the man to circumambulate the Kaaba. Al-Rashid then approached the Black Stone to kiss it, but the Bedouin preceded him and kissed it first. When al-Rashid went to the Station of Abraham to pray, the Bedouin again preceded him and prayed before him. After finishing his prayer, Al-Rashid instructed his chamberlain to bring the Bedouin to him. The chamberlain told the Bedouin, “Answer the Commander of the Faithful.”
The man replied that he needed nothing from the Caliph and added, “If the Commander of the Faithful has a need, he is more deserving of coming to me.” Harun Al-Rashid then rose and stood before the Bedouin, greeted him, and the Bedouin returned the greeting. Al-Rashid said, “O brother of the Arabs, may I sit here if you permit?” The Bedouin replied, “This house is not mine, and this sanctuary is not my property. We are all equal in this place. If you wish, you may sit, and if you wish, you may leave.” The narrator of the story said that this response greatly impressed Harun al-Rashid, for he heard words he had never imagined he would hear. Al-Rashid asked the Bedouin, “What is the one thing that God has obligated you to do, so that if you fulfill it, you can fulfill other duties, and if you fail to do it, you will be unable to do anything else?” The Bedouin replied, “Are you asking to learn, or are you asking to argue?” Al-Rashid, surprised, said, “I am asking to learn.” The Bedouin said, “Then sit before me as a student sits before a teacher.”
Obediently, Al-Rashid knelt before the Bedouin and asked him what God had obligated him to do as a Muslim. The Bedouin inquired, “Which obligation are you asking about? One, five, seventeen, or eighty-five? Are you asking about a duty performed once in a lifetime, once every forty years, or five out of two hundred?” The narrator said that Al-Rashid laughed so hard he fell on his back, mocking him, and then said, “I asked you about your duty, and you gave me a calculation for a lifetime.” The Bedouin replied, “O Harun, if it were not that religion is based on calculation, God would hold people accountable on the Day of Judgment.” He then quoted from the Quran: “And We will set up the scales of justice for the Day of Resurrection, so no soul will be wronged at all. And if there is [even] the weight of a mustard seed, We will bring it forth. And sufficient are We as Reckoners.”
Anger appeared on the Caliph’s face, and his eyes reddened when the Bedouin addressed him by his name “O Harun” instead of “O Commander of the Faithful.” Al-Rashid nearly committed a grave act, but God protected him. Then Al-Rashid said, “O Bedouin, if you explain what you said, you will be spared; otherwise, I will order your head to be struck off between Safa and Marwa.” The chamberlain urged him, “O Commander of the Faithful, pardon him and grant him freedom for the sake of God Almighty, by the sanctity of this holy place.”
The narrator said that the Bedouin laughed at their words and replied, “I am amazed at you both! I do not know which of you is more ignorant - the one who is already facing his appointed time of death, or the one who is trying to hasten it?” The narrator said that Al-Rashid was astonished by what he heard, but the Bedouin began to explain, “As for your question about what God has obligated me to do, He has obligated me to do many things.
The one obligation is belief in the religion of Islam. The five obligations are the five daily prayers. The seventeen refers to the total number of rak‘ahs in the five daily prayers. The thirty-four is the number of prostrations. The eighty-five are the takbirs (saying ‘Allahu Akbar’). The obligation performed once in a lifetime is Hajj (pilgrimage). One out of forty is the zakat on sheep (one sheep for every forty). Five out of two hundred is the zakat on silver.” The narrator said that Al-Rashid was overjoyed upon hearing the explanation of these matters.