I heard Ibn Umar reciting the verse of Abu Talib,"A fair-faced one through whose countenance rain is sought from the clouds, A refuge for orphans and a protector of widows."Umar bin Hamza said, Salim narrated to us from his father, "Often I would recall the poet's words as I looked at the face of the Prophet ﷺ while he prayed for rain, and he would not descend from the pulpit until every waterspout was gushing.A fair-faced one through whose countenance rain is sought from the clouds, A refuge for orphans and a protector of widows."
سمعت ابن عمر يتمثل بشعر أبي طالب: وأبيض يستسقى الغمام بوجهه ثمال اليتامى عصمة للأرامل وقال عمر بن حمزة، حدثنا سالم، عن أبيه: ربما ذكرت قول الشاعر، وأنا أنظر إلى وجه النبي ﷺ يستسقي فما ينزل حتى بجيش كل ميزاب. وأبيض يستسقى الغمام بوجهه لمال اليتامى عصمة للأرامل.
Bukhari related it in the chapter on istisqa (1008, 1009), from Amr bin Ali, who said, Abu Qutayba narrated to us, who said, Abdul-Rahman bin Abdullah bin Dinar narrated to us from his father, who said, then he mentioned it.As for his statement "Umar bin Hamza," he means the son of Abdullah bin Umar, and Salim is his uncle. Umar bin Hamza is daif. Ahmad said, "He has munkar reports," and Nasai said, "Daif." Bukhari mentioned this chain of transmission to strengthen the first chain, since it contains Abdul-Rahman bin Abdullah bin Dinar, who has some looseness in him as Abu Hatim said. So one route reinforces the other, and this is an example of one of the two categories of sahih, as established in the sciences of hadith. Fath al-Bari (2/497).In this there is evidence that the hadith of Ibn Masud, that Abu Sufyan's request to the Prophet ﷺ for rain occurred in Makkah, is correct.This line of poetry that Bukhari mentioned, attributed to Abu Talib, is part of a poem of more than eighty lines, which Ibn Hisham mentioned in Sirah (1/272).His statement "thimal," with a kasra on the letter tha, means support and refuge. And his statement "protection for the widows" means he prevents what would harm them. Al-Aramil is the plural of armalah, which is a woman who has no husband, and it is used figuratively for men as well.It is said that Abu Talib composed these lines when Quraysh united against the Prophet ﷺ and drove away from him those who wished to embrace Islam.