51 – ʿAbdullāh narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Raḥīm ibn Yaḥyā mentioned it; ʿUthmān ibn ʿUmārah reported:

“On one occasion ten of us, disciples of ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Zayd from Basra, set out together and boarded a ship. We sailed with a gentle wind until we reached a place called Sarāb. There we entered the local mosque and began discussing ostentation (riyāʾ) among ourselves. We said, ‘ʿAbd al-Wāḥid has related from al-Ḥasan that the root of ostentation is the love of praise.’

Just then we noticed an elderly shaykh standing in prayer—a tall man, his head and beard completely white, slightly stooped, with a prayer-rug spread before him and positioned close to us. When he heard us say, ‘The root of ostentation is the love of praise,’ he let out a cry so sharp that we thought his very soul had departed. Then he bent down, gathered some of the mosque’s sand, and placed it on his head, saying, ‘Woe to me, alas for me! I have worshipped Allah in this spot for forty years, and I have only been able to persevere because I loved people’s praise of me.’”

ʿUthmān concluded, “So he repented to Allah after those forty years.”