137 – And the Exalted says: “Destroyed were the People of the Trench, the fire supplied with fuel …” up to His words: “…while they sat there witnessing what they were doing to the believers.” (Al-Burūj 85:4-7)

The Story of the Boy and the Sorcerer

138 – Imam Muslim relates in his Ṣaḥīḥ1, through ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Laylā from Suhayb, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

“There was a king among those who came before you, and he had a sorcerer. When the sorcerer grew old he said to the king, ‘I have grown aged; send me a boy so that I may teach him magic.’

Teaching Magic to the Boy

So the king sent him a boy to learn from him.

The Boy Meets a Monk on the Way

As the boy went along his route he passed by a monk; he would sit with him and listen to his words. Whenever he went to the sorcerer he would first stop with the monk, and when he reached the sorcerer, the sorcerer would beat him. He complained about this to the monk, who told him, ‘If you fear the sorcerer, say: My family detained me; and if you fear your family, say: The sorcerer detained me.’

The Boy Tests Which Is Better, the Sorcerer or the Monk

While things were like that, he came upon a huge beast that had blocked the road. He said, ‘Today I shall know whether the sorcerer is superior or the monk is superior.’"