that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ turned his gaze toward Iraq, Syria, and Yemen—though I do not know which of them he faced first—and then said:

“O Allah, draw their hearts to Your obedience and lighten them of their sins.”(1)

He also transmitted it from al-Ḥākim, from al-Aṣamm, from Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq al-Ṣaghānī, from ʿAlī ibn Baḥr ibn Barī, giving the same meaning.(2)

Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī said: ʿImrān al-Qaṭṭān narrated to us, from Qatādah, from Anas ibn Mālik, from Zayd ibn Thābit, who said:
“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ looked toward Yemen and said, ‘O Allah, incline their hearts.’
He then looked toward Syria and said, ‘O Allah, incline their hearts.’
He next looked toward Iraq and said, ‘O Allah, incline their hearts, and bless for us our sâʿ and our mudd.’”(3)

And that is exactly how events unfolded: the people of Yemen embraced Islam before the Syrians; thereafter, goodness and blessing came from the direction of Iraq; and the people of Syria were promised continual guidance and steadfast support of the religion until the end of time.

Aḥmad relates in his Musnad: “The Hour will not come until the best people of Iraq migrate to Syria and the worst people of Syria migrate to Iraq.”(4)

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Muslim narrated—through Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah, from Zayd ibn al-Ḥabbāb, from ʿIkrimah ibn ʿAmmār—who said: Iyās ibn Salamah ibn al-Akwaʿ told me that his father told him:
A man once ate in the presence of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ with his left hand. The Prophet said to him, “Eat with your right.” He replied, “I cannot.” The Prophet said, “May you never be able!” Nothing prevented him except arrogance, and he was never again able to raise that hand to his mouth.(5)

Abū al-Walīd al-Ṭayālisī likewise reported—from ʿIkrimah, from Iyās, from his father—that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ saw Bishr ibn Rāʿī al-ʿĀyr eating with his left hand and said, “Eat with your right.” He replied, “I cannot.” The Prophet said, “May you never be able,” and thereafter his hand never reached his mouth again.