59 – Abū Zakariyyā al-Khathʿamī narrated to us, from al-Aṣmaʿī; al-ʿAlāʾ ibn Aslam narrated to us; he said:

Iyās ibn Qatādah once looked into a mirror and noticed a grey hair. He exclaimed, “So I have become mere kneaded dough for the errands of Banū Tamīm while death is already after me!” He thereupon left, settled at al-Shabakah, and turned the place into a mosque, where he continued to worship Allah until he died.

He used to say, “To meet Allah as a gaunt believer is dearer to me than to meet Him as a well-fed hypocrite.”

Al-Ḥasan—may Allah have mercy on him—commented, “He knew that the Fire consumes flesh but never consumes faith.”