Ahmad ibn ʿAbdah al-Dabbī narrated to us. He said: Hammād—meaning Ibn Zayd—narrated to us, from ʿAtāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, from his father, who said:

“We were sitting in the mosque when ⦗30⦘ ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir entered and offered a brief prayer. As he passed us, someone said to him, ‘O Abū al-Yaqzān, you made the prayer brief.’ He replied, ‘Did you find it brief?’ We said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘Yet I offered a supplication in it that I heard from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.’

“He then went on his way, and a man from the group followed him.” ʿAtāʾ said: “They believe it was my father who followed him, but he was reluctant to say that he himself had followed him. He asked him about the supplication, then returned and told them what it was:

‘O Allah, by Your knowledge of the unseen and Your power over all creation, keep me alive so long as You know that life is better for me, and cause me to die when death is better for me. O Allah, I ask You to grant me fear of You in private and in public, truthful speech, and justice in anger and contentment. I ask You for moderation in poverty and wealth. I ask You for bliss that never perishes, and joy that never ends. I ask You for contentment after Your decree, and a life of comfort after death. I ask You for the delight of looking upon Your Face, and I ask You for longing to meet You, without harmful affliction or a trial that leads astray. O Allah, adorn us with the adornment of faith, and make us rightly guided guides.’”

Abū Bakr said: O seekers of knowledge, do those endowed with understanding not realize that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, would not ask his Lord for something that cannot be? The Prophet’s asking his Lord for the delight of looking upon His Face is the clearest and most evident proof that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has a Face, and that those whom Allah, Glorious and Exalted, favors and graciously permits to look upon His Face will delight in doing so. A chapter on looking upon His Face on the Day of Resurrection will follow in its proper place. Allah bestows this honor upon whomever He wills among His believing servants.

I have already dictated the reports in which the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Whoever fasts a day in the cause of Allah, seeking the Face of Allah, ⦗31⦘ Allah will distance his face from the Fire by seventy years.”

I dictated some of these reports in the Book of Fasting and others in the Book of Jihad, so there is no need to repeat them here.