389 – Al-Firyābī also informed us: Abū Bakr Sa'īd ibn Ya'qūb al-Tālaqānī narrated to us: al-Muqri, Abū Abd al-Rahmān, narrated to us: Ibn Lahīa narrated to us: Amr ibn Shuayb narrated to us, saying: I was sitting with Sa'īd ibn al-Musayyib when one of those present said, “Abū Muhammad, some people say, ‘Allah decreed everything except deeds.’” He continued: By Allah, I had never seen Sa'īd become as angry as he did that day, until he nearly rose to his feet. Then he said, “Have they really done this? Woe to them! If only they knew. Indeed, by Allah, I heard a hadith concerning them that is evil enough for them.”

I asked him, “What is it, Abū Muhammad? May Allah have mercy on you.” He replied, “Rāfi ibn ⦗811⦘ Khadīj narrated to me.” Rāfi said: I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say, “There will be people in my nation who disbelieve in Allah and the Quran without realizing it.”

I asked, “May I be your ransom, O Messenger of Allah! What will they say?”

He replied, “They will say that good comes from Allah, while evil comes from Iblīs. They will then read the Book of Allah on the basis of that claim and thereby disbelieve in Allah and the Quran after having faith and knowledge. What hostility, hatred, and disputation my nation will suffer at their hands! Their time will be marked by the rulers’ oppression, and they will be subjected to injustice, inequity, and self-serving favoritism. Allah, mighty and majestic, will then send a plague that will annihilate most of them. Next, people will be swallowed by the earth, and few will escape. On that day, the believer will have little joy and profound grief. Thereafter will come transformation, and Allah Most High will transform most of those people into apes and swine.”

Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) wept, and we wept because of his weeping. He was asked, “O Messenger of Allah, why are you weeping?”

He replied, “Out of mercy for them, wretched though they are, for among them are devout worshippers and earnest strivers. Indeed, they are not the first to have embraced this doctrine and found themselves unable to bear its burden. Most of the Children of Israel who perished did so because they denied divine decree.”

He was asked, “O Messenger of Allah, what, then, is faith in divine decree?”

He replied, “It is to believe in Allah alone, without partner; to know that no one alongside Him possesses any power to cause harm or benefit; to believe in Paradise and Hell; and to know that Allah created them both before He created the creatures. He then created the creatures for them both and assigned whomever He willed among them to the Fire, in justice on His part. Each person therefore acts in accordance with what has already been determined for him and is bound for that for which he was created.”

I said, “Allah and His Messenger have spoken the truth.”

390 – Al-Firyābī also informed us: al-Hasan ibn al-Sabbāh—that is, al-Bazzār—⦗812⦘ narrated to me: Abd Allah ibn Yazīd narrated to us, from Atiyya, who said: Ibn Lahīa narrated to us: Amr ibn Shuayb narrated to us, saying, “I was sitting with Sa'īd ibn al-Musayyib,” and he related the same report.

391 – Al-Firyābī also informed us: Suwayd ibn Sa'īd narrated to us: Hassān ibn Ibrāhīm narrated to us, from Atiyya ibn Atiyya, from Atā ibn Abī Rabāh, who said: I heard Amr ibn Shuayb say, “We were with Sa'īd ibn al-Musayyib,” and he related a report similar to this one through to its end.