1219 — Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman informed us: Abd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Baghawi informed us: Muhammad ibn Ziyad ibn Farwah narrated to us: Abu Shihab narrated to us, from al-A‘mash, from Khaythamah, from Ibn Mas‘ud, who said:

“A servant may set his heart on a matter of trade or leadership, until it is made easy for him. Then Allah, from above the seven heavens, looks upon him and says to the angels: ‘Turn him away from it, for if I were to make it easy for him, I would cause him to enter the Fire.’”

He said: “So Allah, Exalted is He, turns him away from it, while he goes about saying, ‘So-and-so got ahead of me,’ when it is nothing but Allah’s favor to him.”