66 – Salamah ibn Shabīb related to me, from Abū al-Yamān al-Ḥakam ibn Nāfiʿ. He said: I heard Baqiyyah ibn al-Walīd recount:

A man once oversaw the affairs of his people. One day, while holding a mirror, he glanced at his reflection and noticed a single white hair that had pierced his beard. He cried out, “Indeed we belong to Allah, and to Him we shall return” (Q 2:156)—a harbinger of death, the destroyer of pleasures! How often I have let my soul roam in whatever delighted it. My people, look for someone else to manage your concerns; I am turning in repentance to Allah.”

So he built himself a small hut, withdrew into it, and devoted himself to worship until he met Allah.