11 – Abū ʿAlī ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Zabbān al-Ṭāʾī narrated to me; ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn ʿAbd al-Wārith narrated to us; he said: ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Zayd narrated to us; he said: Aslam al-Kūfī told me, from Murrah, from Zayd ibn Arqam (may Allah be pleased with him), who said:

We were in the company of Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq (may Allah be pleased with him). He called for something to drink, and water mixed with honey was brought to him. When he brought it near his lips, he began to weep—he wept until he moved his companions to tears. They fell silent while he did not cease weeping; then he wept again until they thought they would never be able to ask him about it.

Finally he wiped his eyes, and they said, “O Successor of the Messenger of Allah, what made you weep?” He replied, “I was once with the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace) when I saw him pushing something away from himself, though I could see no one with him. I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, what are you pushing away?’ He said, ‘The present world (al-dunyā) was shown to me in the form of a woman. I said to it: Keep away from me! It departed, then returned and said: Even if you escape me, none after you will escape me.’”