Part 30

Allah bless your night for you both."1

In another narration, it is reported that,

"With the best and all-embracing good, no one is granted something better than patience." 2

Ali Ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) said to Al-Ashas Ibn Qays, "Be committed to patience

and count your dead as a trust which returned to Allah's keeping, otherwise you are behaving the way the

A wise man wrote to an afflicted man saying, "You lost what you have been afflicted with, so do not

let its compensation i.e., the reward, miss you also." Another man said, "The sane person does on the first

day of his calamity what the foolish person does on the fifth day of his calamity."

It is well-known that the passing of time consoles and relieves the afflicted person. Therefore the law-

giver ordered the people to be patient on the suddenness of calamity. Once Al-Shafi'i (may Allah be

pleased with him) was told that Abdul-Rahman Ibn Mahdi lost one of his sons and he was very anxious and

distressed because of his death. Thereupon, Al-Shafi'i sent him a message saying, "O my brother console

yourself with what you console others with and detest from yourself what you detest from other's doings.

Be sure that the most grievous calamity is the one which deprives the person the delight and the reward, so

what do you say about the combination of these two thing and the doing of a sin? So hasten to your destiny

while it is near to you before demanding it while it goes far from you. May Allah grant you patience at

times of calamity and reward you and us for it."

A man wrote to some of his brothers to console him because of the death of his son saying" "As long

as the son is living, he is a source of sadness and trial for his father, but when he dies he becomes a prayer

and a mercy for his father. Therefore, don't be sad for what you missed, you missed his sadness and trial

and do not lose the prayer and mercy which Allah offers you.

Musa Ibn Al-Mahhdi consoled Ibrahim Ibn Salamah on the death of his son saying, "Was not he a

source of happiness although he was a calamity and a trial but when he died, he became a source of sadness

then he became a prayer and mercy?

A man consoled another saying, "the one who will be a reward for you in the hereafter is better than

the one who was a source of your delight and happiness in the worldly life." It is also reported that

Abdullah Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) buried one of his sons and laughed at the grave. He

was asked do you laugh while you are still standing at the grave? He replied, I was to over come by

Satan. Ibn Jarih (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "Whoever is not be patient at the time of calamity

and deem his dead as a trust which is in Allah's keeping, he will behave the way the animals do." Hamid

AI-Araj said, "I saw Sa'id Ibn Jubair saying to his son and looking at him, I know a particular characteristic

of you. He was asked what is it? He replied, "He will die and I will deem him as a trust which is returned to

AI-Hasan Al-Basri (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that,

"A man was very sad because of the death of his son and he complained this to him. AI-Hasan said, "Was

your son absent from you before his death? The man replied, "Yes, his absence was more than his

attendance. AI-Hasan said,"So deem his absence forever but this time will be the most rewarding for you.

The man said, O Abu Sa'id, You appeased my anxiety about my son.

Once 'Umar Ibn 'Abedul-' Aziz entered upon his son while he was ill and said, "0 my son, how are

you?" He replied, "I found myself in the truth." 'Umar said, O my son, to be in my scale! It is more beloved

for me to be in your scale ('Umar mean that his sins are more than his son's." The son replied, "O my father,

to be granted what you love is more beloved to me than to be granted what I love."

Once, 'Urwah was attacked by disease in his leg and he was obliged to cut it off and he cut it off

himself despite he was an old man. He did not leave out his oft-frequently remembrance which he used to

do on this night, but he recited Allah's saying,

{Bring as our early meal, truly we have suffered much fatigue at this (stage of) our journey}

He (may Allah be pleased with him) also said, "OAllah! If You afflicted me, you truly relieved me and

if you took something, truly you saved me many others. You took one organ and saved for me many others

and you took a son and saved me many others. On the same night a man from Banu Abs entered upon Al-

Walid Ibn Abd ul-Malik. AI-Walid asked him about his eye. The man said, "I spent one night in the peak of

a valley and I didn't know anyone from Bany , Abd who may be more rich than me. Then we were afflicted

with a torrent. Consequently, all my property, family and children were destroyed with exception of a

camel and a son. The camel was very reluctant and it ran away and I started to follow it. I did not leave my

son except for a short distance and I heard his crying. I returned to him and I found his head under its belly

and it killed him. Then I followed the camel to catch it, but it kicked me with its foot and it disfigured my

face and blinded my eye. Then I became deprived of my family, my property, my son and my camel."

Thereupon, AI-Walid said, "Take this man and bring him before 'Urwah so he knows that there are many

others who are more afflicted than him."

It is also reported that, when 'Uhman (may Allah be pleased with him) was attacked and beaten, he said

while blood was flowing upon his beard, "There is no God but Allah, Glory be to you. Truly I was one of

those who wronged themselves. O Allah! I seek Your help against them and I seek Your help in all my

affairs.O Allah! I ask You to grant me patience on what You afflicted me with.

AI-Mada'ni said, "I saw in the desert a very beautiful woman and I said, "By Allah, this woman is

surely a very prosperous and rich. She said, "By Allah, this is not true, I suffered many distresses and

worries and I will tell you my story. I was married to a man and we had two children. On the day of 'Eidul-

Adha (Feast of Sacrifice), their father slaughtered a sheep and they were playing. The elder son said to his

younger brother, do you want me to show you how my father slaughtered the sheep? The younger son said,

'Yes'. Then the elder son slaughtered his brother and when he saw his brother bleeding he was very scared

and ran away towards the mountain and a wolf devoured him. His father followed him to bring him back,

but he lost his way in the desert and he died from hunger and I became lonely. Al-Mada'ni asked her, "How

are you with patience?" She said, "If it accompanies me, I will abide by it, but it was a wound and I

On the authority of Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) who said,

"I heard the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) saying, "Whoever has two sons and they died in his lifetime, he will

enter Paradise. Aishah asked, "May my father and mother be a compensation for you! What about the one

who has one son?" The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessing be upon him) said, "He will have the same

reward" 'Aishah proceeded, "What about the one who has none of your Ummah?' He said, "I am the fore-

runner of my Ummah and they were not afflicted with a more grievous calamity than mine (death)." 1

One the authority of Abu Ubaidah (may Allah be pleased with him) from his father who said, "The

Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said,

"Whoever has three sons and they died in his lifetime before attaining the age of puberty, they

will be a protection for him from the Hell-Fire." Abu AI-Darda, and in another narration Abu Dharr, said,

"I introduced two sons. The Prophet said, "They will bring you the same reward. Ubai Ibn Ka'b, the muster

of the readers of the Glorious Quran said, "I introduced one. " The Prophet (pbuh) said, "He will bring

you the same reward, but this is at the time of the suddenness of the calamity." 2

On the authority of Waki' who said,"There was a son for Ibrahim AI-Harbi and he was eleven years when

he memorized the Glorious Quran and was knowledgeable in Fiqh and Hadith. He died and I went to

console his father. He said to me," I was longing for his death." I said, O Abu Ishaq, how could you say

something like that while you enjoy such a status among the scholars? Your son was grown up, memorized

the Quran and was knowledgeable in Fiqh and Hadith. He said, I saw in a dream as if we it was the Day of

Judgment and there were many children who are carrying cups of water and met the people to give them

water. The Day was very hot and I said to one of them, give me some water. He looked at me and said you

are my father. I said who are you? He said, we are the children who died in the religion of Islam and we

foreran our fathers to give them the water to drink. For this reason I hoped for his death."

Muslim reported on the authority of Abu Hasan who said that,

"I said to Abu Hurairah talk with us about something that may relieve us from our sadness concerning our

dead." He said, they are the boys of Paradise and they meet their fathers or their parents and catch their

clothes or hands and don't leave them until they enter Paradise." 3

Malik Ibn Dinar (may Allah be pleased with him) said, " At the be ginning of my life I indulged in

every type of amusement and wine drinking. I bought a slave girl and I had a sexual intercourse with her