Accompanying the ruler of Asqūliyya were two priests. One of them said, “This army will camp before Afrūliyya for seven days, battering it with catapults, and on the eighth day the city will fall.” The other retorted, “No—rather, they will remain for seven days and withdraw on the eighth.”

When the expeditionary force heard the two predictions, they said, “We do not know whether to carry provisions only for the outbound journey or for both the departure and the return.” One group declared, “We will follow the word of the priest who said the city will open on the eighth day, and we will not burden ourselves with the heavy load of extra supplies.” The other contingent replied, “It is our very lives we are talking about; we will not gamble with them,” and they packed food for both the outward march and the return.

They traveled on until they reached Afrūliyya. The defenders there had taken every precaution, sheltering behind one fortification after another. The besiegers kept up a seven-day bombardment with catapults and breached the outer wall. They surged through the gap, only to discover another well-fortified inner citadel; their entry through the first wall availed them nothing. On the eighth day a courier arrived with news that their king had died, so they broke camp and withdrew. Of those who had neglected to bring provisions, seventy thousand perished, and they became a cautionary tale.

In the same way, whoever is careless about preparing for the Hereafter will be ruined, while the one who lays in supplies for it and safeguards himself against its dangers will be saved—just as the people of Afrūliyya protected themselves, and as those from Asqūliyya who had brought provisions for the return journey were delivered.