He went on: “So I said, ‘This, too, is part of the trial.’ I then walked over to the tanūr (clay oven) and stoked it, meaning that I set a fire in it and burned the letter.

He burned it, rather than keeping it, lest his own soul later whisper to him to answer the king’s summons. By destroying it completely he cut off every hope of using it as a pretext to travel to that ruler. After that he remained in the same state for some time.

From this segment of the hadith we learn that a person who is being boycotted and shunned may excuse himself from attending the congregational prayer if his soul is unable to bear the ordeal, just as the two companions of Kaʿb ibn Mālik, may Allah be pleased with them, did.

There is no doubt that it is painfully constraining for a man to enter the mosque with the congregation while no one greets him, no one returns his greeting, and he is openly boycotted and cast aside. His chest tightens until he can no longer endure it, and in such a case—­as the scholars have stated—­his absence is a valid excuse.

Among the benefits of this hadith is the Companions’ intense obedience to the Prophet’s command, peace and blessings be upon him; what took place between Abū Qatādah and Kaʿb ibn Mālik, may Allah be pleased with them both, is clear proof.

Another lesson is the need to be on guard against people of evil, those who seize upon a person’s weakness and lie in wait for opportunities to ruin him. The Ghassanid king saw an opening with Kaʿb ibn Mālik, may Allah be pleased with him, and invited him to deviance, hoping that in his distress he would abandon his religion and embrace the king’s faith.

The hadith also highlights the spiritual strength of Kaʿb ibn Mālik in the religion of Allah, showing that he belonged to the ranks of the sincere believers, not to those about whom Allah has said, ‘And among the people there are those who say…’