my sight, so that I may look upon people.’
Notice the blind man’s request: he asked for nothing beyond the bare need—sight with which to see others. The leper and the bald man, by contrast, each wished for something larger than mere necessity. The leper said, ‘a handsome complexion and healthy skin,’ and the bald man asked for ‘beautiful hair’; they sought more than skin, color, or hair alone. The blind man, however, displayed a kind of zuhd (detachment), limiting his plea to sight sufficient to see people.
The angel then asked him, ‘Which form of wealth is dearest to you?’ He answered, ‘Sheep.’ This, too, reveals his modesty; he did not long for camels or cattle but only for sheep, whose numbers are small compared with those other herds. The angel therefore gave him a pregnant ewe and prayed, ‘May Allah bless it for you.’
Thus Allah—exalted is He—blessed the first man in his camels, the second in his cattle, and the third in his sheep, until each of them possessed a valley full of the livestock he had been granted: the first a valley of camels, the second a valley of cattle, and the third a valley of sheep.
Later the angel came to the leper, appearing in the very form and condition the man had once known—his former diseased body, his shabby state, the clothes of a pauper—and said, ‘I am a destitute traveler; all the means that might carry me home have been cut off. Today I have no refuge but with Allah and then with you.’ He entreated him by describing his poverty and his state as an ibn-sabeel—that is, a wayfarer—explaining that the “ropes,” meaning the means that could bring him back to his family, had snapped. He had nothing left except to rely on Allah and then on the leper’s help. The angel added, ‘I ask you, by the One who granted you the good complexion, healthy skin, and wealth, for a single camel to ride so I may resume my journey.’
The man replied, ‘The obligations upon me are many,’ and refused to give—even though he owned an entire valley of camels. He protested, ‘The dues are numerous,’ and withheld his aid; and so it appeared—and Allah knows best—