Al-Bidayah wa an-Nihayah - Ibn Kathir - (2/370)

on my journey.’

He answered, ‘I am burdened with many obligations.’

The angel said, ‘It is as though I recognize you! Were you not once a leper whom people shunned, destitute, and then Allah granted you health and wealth?’

He replied, ‘I inherited all this, generation (1) after generation.’

The angel declared, ‘If you are lying, may Allah return you to the state you were in.’

He then went to the bald man in the very same form and asked him what he had asked the first, and the bald man responded exactly as the leper had.

So the angel said, ‘If you are lying, may Allah return you to the state you were in.’

Finally he came to the blind man in his own form and appearance and said, ‘I am a poor man, a wayfarer; my means have been cut off on the road. Today I have no resource save Allah and then you. I implore you—by the One who restored your sight—to give me a sheep with which I may continue my journey.’

The man replied, ‘I was blind and Allah restored my sight; I was poor and He enriched me (2). Take whatever you wish (3). By Allah, I will not restrict you today in anything you take for Allah’s sake.’

The angel said, ‘Keep your property; you have merely been tested. Allah is pleased with you and angry with your two companions.’

This is al-Bukhārī’s wording (4) in the narrations of the Children of Israel.

(1) In manuscript B: kābiran, which matches the wording of Muslim. (2) An addition appears in B and ṭ, in agreement with al-Bukhari’s phrasing. (3) In B there is an added phrase “wa-atruk mā shi’ta,” which is the wording of Muslim; it also reads “wa-da‘.” (4) This reading is closest to Muslim’s phrasing.

عليه في سفري. فقال له: إن الحقوق كثيرةٌ. فقال له: كأني أعرفُك! ألم تكن أبرصَ يَقْذَرُكَ الناس فقيرًا فأعطاك الله – Exalté soit-Il – ؟ فقال: لقد ورثتُ لكابرٍ (١) عن كابر. فقال: إن كنتَ كاذبًا فصيّركَ الله إلى ما كنتَ. وأتى الأقرعَ في صورته وهيئته، فقال له مثل ما قال لهذا، فردّ عليه مثلَ ما ردَّ عليه هذا. فقال: إن كنتَ كاذبًا فصيّرك الله إلى ما كنتَ. وأتى الأعمى في هيئته وصورته، فقال: رجلٌ مسكين وابنُ سبيل، وتقطّعت بي الحِبال في سفري، فلا بلاغ اليوم إلا بالله ثمّ بك، أسألك بالذي ردَّ عليك بصرك شاةً أتبلّغ بها في سفري. فقال: قد كنتُ أعمى فردّ الله إليَّ بَصري، وفقيرًا فقد أغناني (٢) فخذ ما شئت (٣) فوالله لا أجهدك اليوم بشيء أخذته لله – Exalté soit-Il – . فقال: أمْسك مالَكَ فإنما ابتُليتم، فقد رضي الله عنك وسخط على صاحبيك". هذا لفظ البخاري (٤) في أحاديث بني إسرائيل. * * *

(١) في ب: كابرًا، وهو لفظ مسلم. (٢) زيادة من ب وط. وهي موافقة للفظ البخاري. (٣) زاد في ب: واترك ما شئت وهو لفظ مسلم. وفيه: ودع. (٤) وهو أقرب إلى لفظ مسلم.