16 – ʿAbd Allah narrated to us; Ishaq ibn Ismaʿil narrated to us; Abu Usamah reported, from Masʿud, from Maʿn, from ʿAwn ibn ʿAbd Allah, who said:

A man was once sitting, forlorn, in a garden in Egypt ⦗54⦘ during the civil unrest that broke out in the time of Ibn al-Zubayr. In his hand he held a stick with which he was absently striking the ground. When he finally raised his head, a labourer carrying a spade happened to pass by.

The man with the spade said, “My friend, why do I see you so downcast and sad?”

The seated man looked at him with some disdain and answered, “Nothing.”

The labourer pressed him: “Is it over worldly matters? This worldly life is but a passing commodity: both the righteous and the wicked consume it. The Hereafter, however, is a true appointed term, governed by a Mighty King who will render judgment and separate right from wrong …” He went on, saying that it has ‘joints like the joints of meat—whoever misses any part of it has missed the truth.’

When the first man heard these words he was clearly moved. “It is because of what the Muslims are suffering,” he confessed.

The man with the spade replied, “Then Allah will deliver you because of your compassion for the Muslims. So ask Him! Who has ever asked Allah and not been given, called upon Him and not been answered, relied on Him and not found Him sufficient, or trusted Him and not been delivered?”

The narrator concluded: “So I clung to the supplication, ‘Allahumma sallimni wa sallim minni’ (O Allah, keep me safe and keep others safe from me). The tribulation lifted, and none of those around him were harmed.”