109 – Saʿīd ibn Sulaymān narrated to us, from Sulaymān ibn al-Mughīrah, from Ḥumayd ibn Hilāl, who said:

We were sitting with ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ṣāmit in the congregational mosque when he remarked, “If only, after I return to my family and they have eaten their supper and drunk their drink, they would awaken the next morning dead.”

A man in the gathering asked, “Why would you wish that for your household? Are you not well-provided for?”

He replied, “Indeed I am, but I fear that what Abū Dharr once told me may overtake me. He said, ‘My nephew, if your life is prolonged, the man who is light of burden and quick to act will be more envied than the father of ten—each of them the head of his own household. And, my nephew, if your life is prolonged, a funeral will pass by, and a man will lift his head and say, ‘Would that I were in its place,’ though he has no idea whether its occupant is bound for Paradise or for the Fire.’ ”

I said, “O Abū Dharr, will this not come about because of some immense evil that will afflict the people?”

He replied, “Yes indeed, my nephew.”