49 – ʿAli ibn al-Hasan ibn Abi Maryam narrated to me, from al-Faraj ibn Saʿid; he said: Ahmad ibn Yahya ibn Malik related to us; he said: Mubarak ibn Fadalah, from al-Hasan, reported:

A man called ʿUqayb was devoted to the worship of Allah. In those days there was a king who subjected people to savage, exemplary punishments. ʿUqayb said, “If I were to go down to him and command him to fear Allah, that would be incumbent upon me.”

So he came down from the mountain and said to the king, “Man, fear Allah.”

The tyrant retorted, “Dog! Someone like you tells me to fear Allah? Tomorrow I will torment you with a punishment no one in all creation has ever suffered.” He then ordered that ʿUqayb be flayed alive from his feet up to his head, and the flaying began.

When they reached his belly he groaned, whereupon Allah revealed to him: “ʿUqayb, be patient; I shall bring you out of the abode of sorrow into the abode of joy, out of the abode of constriction into the abode of abundance.”

When the flaying reached his face he screamed, and Allah revealed to him: “ʿUqayb, you have caused the inhabitants of My heaven and My earth to weep, and you have astounded those who never cease to glorify Me. If you scream a third time, I will pour down on them a sweeping punishment.”

So he remained patient until his face was completely flayed, fearing that his people might be overtaken by the punishment.