fruit that could not be found in Mecca. He would eat it with his own hand while that hand was fastened in iron. He was also the first to establish the practice of praying two rakʿahs before execution: he performed it, and Allah and His Messenger approved it. In addition, he invoked calamity upon those people, and Allah answered his supplication.

As for ʿĀṣim ibn Thābit, who was killed, a group from Quraysh learned of it. He had slain one of their nobles, so they sent a party to bring back some part of his body as proof of his death. When they arrived to take a piece of him, Allah sent over him something like a canopy of hornets—large swarms of bees—by which He protected him from those men. They were unable to draw near and returned empty-handed.

This, too, was a mark of Allah’s honor toward ʿĀṣim: He safeguarded his body after death from the enemies who wished to mutilate it.

Such karamat (extraordinary favors shown to the righteous) are many. The author has mentioned some of them in this chapter and scattered others throughout this book.

Shaykh al-Islam said: “Among the fundamentals of Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamāʿah is to affirm the karamat granted to the friends of Allah and the various kinds of knowledge, unveilings, power, and effects that Allah causes to appear at their hands. These karamat were present before this nation, existed in the earliest generations of this nation, and will remain until the Day of Resurrection.” He listed many of them in his work Al-Furqān bayna Awliyāʾ al-Shayṭān wa-Awliyāʾ al-Raḥmān.