1433 – ʿAbd Allah narrated to us; my father narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Ṣamad narrated to us; Jarīr ibn ʿAbd Allah al-ʿAdawī narrated to us, from his father, who said:

I said to al-ʿAlāʾ ibn Ziyād, “When I perform the ṣalāh (ritual prayer) alone, I cannot keep my mind focused in it.”

He replied, “Take heart, for that is a sign of goodness. Have you not noticed how thieves pass by a ruined house and pay it no attention, yet when they come upon a house that seems to contain valuables they break into it until they obtain something from it?”

He also said, “It displeases me that my house is so close to the mosque”—meaning that he preferred his home to be farther away so that he could earn more steps on the way there.