1757 – ʿAbd Allah narrated to us; he said, “I found in my father’s notebook: Muʿāwiyah al-Ghalābī narrated to us; a man from Quraysh narrated to me, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Ziyād, from his father, that he once fell ill. He therefore wrote to Bakr b. ʿAbd Allah—who was his neighbour—saying, ‘Pray to Allah for me.’

Bakr wrote back: ‘Your letter has reached me in which you ask me to supplicate Allah for you. It befits a servant who has committed a sin for which he has no excuse, and who fears the death from which there is no escape, to be full of apprehension. I shall indeed pray for you, yet I do not ⦗247⦘ expect my supplication to be answered on account of any strength in my deeds or freedom from sin.’