95 – Ḥātim b. ʿAbd Allāh related to us; he said it was narrated from Siyyār b. Ḥātim, who said: ʿUthmān b. Maṭar told us, saying that Tawbah al-Anbarī reported:

“Yūsuf b. ʿUmar forced me to take up an official post. When I returned, he threw me into prison and put me in irons. I remained there until not a single black hair was left on my head. Then, in a dream, someone clad in shining white garments came to me and said, ‘Tawbah, has your confinement been long?’ I answered, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘Tawbah, say: “I ask Allah for pardon, for well-being, and for lasting safety in this world and the Hereafter.”’ I recited it three times and awoke. I called out, ‘Boy, bring the inkwell and the lamp,’ and I wrote down that supplication. I then prayed as much as Allah enabled me and kept invoking Him with it until I performed the dawn prayer.

As soon as I had prayed, my guard arrived, beat on the prison door, and they opened for him. He said, ‘Where is Tawbah al-Anbarī?’ They replied, ‘Here he is.’ They carried me in my shackles and set me before Yūsuf while I was still repeating the words. He said, ‘Tawbah, have we not kept you locked up for a long time?’ I said, ‘Indeed.’ He ordered, ‘Remove his chains and release him.’

I later taught the supplication to another prisoner. My companion told me, ‘Never once was I called out for torture after uttering those words but that they let me go.’ One day, however, I was brought for punishment; I kept trying to recall them but could not until I had been flogged a hundred lashes. Then I remembered, said them, and they set me free.”