Sayyidina Suhayb reported that after he had offered the salah of asr, Allah’s Messenger used to susurrus which according to some is to move the lips as though something will be said). Someone said, 0 Messenger of Allah, when you offer asr, you susurrus.’ He said, “A Prophet among the Prophets was pleased with the large number of his followers (ummah) and he thought, Who can match them? So, Allah revealed to him that heshould give them choice to choose between self-destruction and subjugution under an enemy. They chose self-destruction. So Allah put death over them and just in a day seventy thousand of them died.” When Allah’s Messenger narrated this Hadith, he also narrated : There was king among the kings.This king had a soothsayer who said to him that he should get him an intelligent boy to whom he might teach his knowledge. He said, “Let it not be that when I die, this knowledge should be lost to you. And there be no one to teach it you.” So, they seasched out a boy as described by the soothsayer. They ordered him to go to that soothsayer every day) and maintain contact with him. So, he went to him regularly. Now, on the path of the boy was a monk in his cathedral. Mamar said that he thought that the worshippers in the cathederal useti to be Muslims in those days. This boy used to make enquiries from the monk whenever he passed by him. He was not dettered till the monk disclosed to him that he worshipped Allah. The boy began to tarry with the monk a little longer, and gave lesser time to the soothsayer. The soothersayer sent message to the boy’s family that he thought that the boy might not come to him anymore. The boy informed the monk about it. He said to him, “When the soothsayer asks you where you were, say that you were with your family and whem your people ask you where you were, tell them that you were with the soothsayer.” While the boy was at it, one day he passed by a group of people whom an animal prevented from advancing forward. Some said that it was a lion. The boy picked up a stone and said. “0 Allah! If what the monk says is true then I ask You to kill it,” and he threw the stone. He killed the animal. The people asked, “Who killed it?” Others said, “The boy!” The people were surprised and commented that the boy had acquired knowledeg that no one else had learnt. A blind man heard of it. He said, “If you return to me my sight then for you is this and that. The boy said, “I do not wish for that from you, but wish of you that if your sight is restored to you then you believe in Him Who restores it to you.” He said, “Yes” So he prayed to Allah and He restored to him his eye-sight. The blind man then believed. Their affair was conveyed to the king and he sent for them and they were presented to him. He said, “I will slay each one of you in different ways.” He had the monk and the man who had been blind killed-one of them sawed through and the other in some other way. Then he ordered that the boy should be taken to the top of a particular mountain and thrown down from the top. When they took him there and were at the place from where he was to be thrown down, (the montain shook and) they began to fall down and all of them, except the boy, died. The boy returned to the king who commanded that he should be thrown into the sea. They took him there, but Allah drowned all of them and saved the boy. The boy came to the king and said, “You cannot slay me till you bind me and shoot an arrow and while shooting it, you say:
(In the name of Allah, the Lord of this boy).
So, the king ordered that he should be tied up (somewhere). Then they shot the arrow, saying the while tj (In the name of Allah, Lord of this boy). The boy placed his hand on his temple while the arrow was shot. He died. The people said, “This boy learnt knowledge that no one else learnt. So, we believe in the Lord of this boy.” Then it was said to the king, “You were worried at the opposition of three men. Now, this whole world opposes you!” The king had trenches dug up. Firewood was thrown into it and it was put on fire. Then, people were brought together and he said, “He who reverts to his (original) religion, we will leave him alone, but he who does not revert to his religion, we shall hurl him in this fire.” So, they began hurling them in the fire, The Prophet said that Allah, the Blessed and Exalted said about it.
Persh the compainions of the pit! of the fuel-fed fire, when they sat around it, and they were witnesses to what they did with the believers, and they avenged them not except for this that
they believed in Allah, the Mighty, the Praised. (85:4-8)
As for the boy, he was buried. It is said that his corpse was dug out in the times of Umar ibn Khattab and his finger was placed on his temple just as he had placed it on the day he was slain.
[Muslim 3005, Ahmed 18955]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------