786. ʿAbd Allāh narrated to us; he said: My father narrated to me; Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd ibn Ḥassān narrated to us; Jaʿfar—meaning Ibn Sulaymān—narrated to us from a man whom he identified, from Shahr ibn Ḥawshab, from ʿĀʾidh Allāh, from Abū Dharr who said:

The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “By Him in Whose Hand is my soul, were you to know what I know you would laugh little and weep much; you would hardly rest upon your beds, you would take no pleasure with your spouses, you would never eat your fill, and you would hasten to the mountain paths crying out to Allah.”

Whenever Abū Dharr related this ḥadīth he would say, “If only I were a tree to be cut down!”