44 – Al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ṣabbāḥ related to me: Zayd ibn al-Hubāb reported, saying, “Muḥammad ibn Nashīṭ al-Hilālī told us, saying, ‘Bakr ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Muzanī narrated that

a butcher became infatuated with a slave-girl who belonged to one of his neighbours. Her family once sent her on an errand to another village, so he followed her and tried to seduce her. She said, “Do not do that! I love you more than you love me, but I fear Allah.” He replied, “So you ⦗63⦘ fear Him while I do not?” Realising this, he turned back in repentance.

On the way he was struck by such thirst that it felt as though his neck would break. He came across a messenger of one of the prophets of the Children of Israel, who asked him, “What is the matter with you?” He answered, “Thirst.” The messenger said, “Come, let us supplicate Allah to send a cloud to shade us until we reach the village.” The butcher said, “I have no good works through which to pray.” The messenger replied, “Then I will supplicate and you say āmīn.” So the messenger prayed and he said āmīn. A cloud appeared and shaded them until they reached the village.

When the butcher turned toward his own place, the cloud leaned over and followed him. The messenger came back to him and said, “You claimed you had no deeds, yet I was the one who prayed and you merely said āmīn. The cloud shaded us and then followed you. You must tell me what you have done.” So the butcher informed him of his story.

The messenger then said, “The one who repents to Allah occupies a rank that no one else among humankind attains.”’