good.’

‘What is it?’ he asked. Abū Mūsā replied, ‘If you live long enough you will see it. In the mosque I noticed some people sitting in circles waiting for the prayer. In every circle there was a man with pebbles in front of him. He would say, “Pronounce the takbīr one hundred times,” and they would do so one hundred times; then he would say, “Declare the tahlīl one hundred times,” and they would do so one hundred times; then he would say, “Glorify Allah one hundred times,” and they would glorify Him one hundred times.’

Ibn Masʿūd said, ‘Why did you not tell them to count their sins and guarantee them that none of their good deeds would be lost?’

He then set off—and we went with him—until he came to one of those circles. He stood over them and said, ‘What is this that I see you doing?’ They replied, ‘O Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, these pebbles help us count the takbīr, tahlīl, tasbīḥ and taḥmīd.’ He said, ‘Then count your sins instead, for I guarantee that none of your good deeds will be wasted. Woe to you, community of Muhammad! How quickly you are doomed to perish. His Companions are still many, his garments have not yet decayed and his vessels have not yet been broken. By Him in Whose hand is my soul, you are either following a path more rightly guided than that of Muhammad, or you are opening the door to misguidance.’

They said, ‘By Allah, O Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, we only intended good.’ He replied, ‘How many a person intends good but never attains it! The Messenger of Allah ﷺ informed us that there will be people who recite the Qur’an yet it does not pass beyond their collar-bones; by Allah, I do not know—perhaps most of them are from among you.’ He then turned away from them.” ʿAmr b. Salamah said, “We later saw most of those same people fighting against us at Nahrawān alongside the Khārijites.1

3 – A man once came to Imām Mālik b. Anas and asked, ‘From where should I enter into iḥrām?’ He replied, ‘From the miqāt that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ fixed and from which he entered iḥrām.’ The man said, ‘What if I enter iḥrām from a place even farther away?’ Mālik said, ‘I do not consider that appropriate.’ The man asked, ‘Why do you dislike it?’ He said, ‘I fear fitnah for you.’ The man said, ‘What fitnah could there be in increasing one’s good deeds?’ Mālik answered, ‘Allah, exalted is He, says: “Let those who oppose his command beware, lest a trial afflict them or a painful punishment befall them.”2 And what fitnah is greater than your singling yourself out for a virtue with which