Classical sources preserve several related reports about Mutarrif ibn Abd Allah, may Allah have mercy on him, travelling in darkness when an unusual light appeared at his whip. Ibn Sa'd records that before dawn, while Mutarrif was going to Friday prayer with his son Abd Allah behind him, a two-branched light shone from the head of his whip. Ahmad ibn Hanbal preserves another form in which a lamp-like light appeared on the whip tip during a dark night. Al-Bayhaqi and al-Lalaka'i also preserve a version in which one traveller's whip tip had light.
In that report, a light suddenly shone from the head of Mutarrif's whip. Ibn Sa'd describes the light as having two branches. The scene is brief and direct: a dark pre-dawn journey, Mutarrif moving toward the Friday prayer, his son behind him, and an unusual light appearing from the whip he carried.
Ahmad ibn Hanbal's al-Zuhd preserves a related form of the story. In that version, Mutarrif is travelling on a very dark night with a servant. The darkness is such that they cannot see clearly, and a light like a lamp appears at the tip of Mutarrif's whip. This version keeps the same central image of light during dark travel but describes its appearance differently.
A third form is preserved by al-Bayhaqi and al-Lalaka'i through Qatada. It speaks of Mutarrif and a companion travelling on a dark night and says that the tip of one of their whips had light. Al-Bayhaqi places this report in his discussion of the karamat of the awliya and mentions Mutarrif among the senior Tabi'in.
The classical accounts therefore share one clear core while preserving different visual details. Ibn Sa'd speaks of a two-branched light, Ahmad's report describes something like a lamp, and the Qatada form simply says that one whip tip had light. These descriptions are best kept side by side rather than blended into one imagined scene.
A separate report about something like tasbih being heard at a whip tip belongs to another incident and is not part of this light story. The public account can therefore remain simple: during dark travel, Mutarrif ibn Abd Allah was accompanied by an unusual light at his whip, remembered in several classical forms and later included among reports of saintly karamat.
Conclusion
The report remembers Mutarrif ibn Abd Allah, may Allah have mercy on him, travelling in darkness while an unusual light appeared at his whip, with several classical sources preserving the event in slightly different forms.