clear his throat so the remaining worshippers would notice him. Some of them turned, and when they saw him—reduced by hunger and thirst to little more than skin and bone—they carried him out and came to his aid.

They asked, “Who are you, man?”

He replied, “I am an ascetic who puts his trust in Allah.”

They retorted, “How can you claim to rely on Allah when you almost died? Had you truly relied on Him, you would neither have begged nor alerted the people to your presence by coughing; you would have died bearing the consequence of your own fault!”

This tale shows where such a maxim as, “Take from the Quran whatever you wish, whenever you wish,” can lead.

In sum, this so-called hadith has no basis at all.