68 – Al-Ḥusayn narrated to us; he said: ʿAbd Allāh narrated to us; he said: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbbād ibn Mūsā told me, from Muḥammad ibn Misʿar al-Yarbūʿī, who said: ʿAṭiyya ibn Sulaymān related:

“I performed the Friday prayer, then left and sat with Yūnus ibn ʿUbayd until we prayed the ʿAṣr prayer. He said, ‘Shall we attend the funeral of so-and-so?’ We walked to the quarter of Banū Saʿd and offered the funeral prayer. Then he said, ‘Shall we go to so-and-so, the devoted worshipper, and visit him?’

When we reached him, we found a man whose mouth was afflicted with an ulcer that had eaten away until his molars were exposed. Whenever he wished to speak, he would ask for a small bowl of water and a piece of cotton, moisten his tongue until it was wet, and then utter a few well-chosen words.

When we entered, he called for the cup to do what he usually did. While he was moistening his tongue, his two eyeballs fell into the cup. He picked them up, wiped them with his hand, and said, ‘I still feel some residue on them. I did not think anything of them remained.’ Then he faced the qiblah and said, ‘Praise be to Allah who granted them to me and let me enjoy them in my youth and sound health; and when my days were spent and my appointed term drew near, He took them from me so that He might replace them—if Allah wills—with something better.’

Yūnus said to him, ‘We had come prepared to console you, but now we congratulate you!’ He responded with good words and supplication. We then left him and came to Abū Rajāʾ al-ʿUṭāridī and told him our story. He said, ‘You have been present at goodness and followed it up: you prayed in congregation, then you followed a funeral, then you visited a sick person, and then you visited a brother. You have certainly attained goodness, you have certainly attained goodness! And I, by Allah, have also attained goodness—for last night I recited more than a thousand verses.’”