111 – ʿAmr ibn Ḥayyān al-Baṣrī narrated to us, from Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd Allāh al-Qurashī, from ʿUtbah ibn Hārūn, from Maslamah ibn Muḥārib, from Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind, who said:

When death drew near, Muʿāwiyah recited:

[al-Baḥr al-Ṭawīl]
“It is death—there is no escaping death, and what we fear after death is even graver and more dreadful.”

He then said, “O Allah, erase the stumble, pardon the slip, and be generous with Your forbearance toward the ignorance of one who hopes for none but You and trusts in none but You; for You are boundless in forgiveness, and no sinner has any refuge except with You.”

Dāwūd said: I was told that these words reached Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib (may Allah have mercy on him), and he remarked, “He has turned in hope to the One to whom no one may turn in hope in the same way, and I pray that Allah will not punish him.”