1099 – ʿAbd Allah narrated to us; my father narrated to us; Yazid ibn Harun narrated to us; Hammad ibn Salamah informed us; from Thabit al-Bunani; from Anas ibn Malik, who said:

“We were with Abu Musa (may Allah have mercy on him) on one of his journeys. He heard people talking and detected the voice of someone of striking eloquence. He said to me, ‘O Anas, come so that we may remember our Lord—exalted is He—for one of these men could almost slice leather with his tongue!’

“He then said, ‘O Anas, what is it that has slowed people down from the Hereafter and kept them from it?’

“I replied, ‘Their passions and Satan.’

“He said, ‘No, by Allah. Rather, this world has been brought forward for them while the Hereafter has been deferred. Had they been able to see it with their own eyes, they would neither choose anything else nor incline away from it.’”