The Boy and the King

• The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) told of a king among those who came before us who had a sorcerer. When the sorcerer grew old, he asked the king to send him a boy to teach magic. On his way to the sorcerer the boy found a monk, sat with him, listened to his words and was impressed by them, and from then on he stopped with the monk each time he passed.[1][4]
• The sorcerer beat the boy for coming late, and the monk told him: if you fear the sorcerer, say my family kept me, and if you fear your family, say the sorcerer kept me. Al-Nawawi (Sharh Sahih Muslim, vol. 18, p. 420) draws from this that it is permitted to say what is not so in war and the like, and to save a life from ruin, one's own or that of anyone whose life is sacred.[1][3]
• One day a huge beast blocked the people's way, and the boy said, "I will come to know today whether the magician is superior or the monk is superior". He took a stone and asked Allah, if the monk's way was dearer to Him than the sorcerer's, to let it kill the beast so the people could pass; he threw it, the beast died and the people went on. In al-Tirmidhi's narration some said the beast was a lion. Al-Nawawi (vol. 18, p. 420) says the hadith establishes the karamat, the wonders Allah grants His righteous friends.[1][2][3]
• The monk told him, "Sonny, today you are superior to me", warned him that he would be put to a trial, and asked him, if he was, not to point anyone to him.[1]
• The boy began to treat the blind and those with leprosy, and people with every kind of illness. Al-Nawawi (vol. 18, p. 420) explains that the word used for the blind here (al-akmah) means one born blind. A blind companion of the king came with many gifts, promising them all if he were cured. The boy answered, "I myself do not cure anyone. It is Allah Who cures", and said that if he believed in Allah, he would ask Allah for him. In al-Tirmidhi's narration he says, "I do not want this from you."[1][2][3]
• The courtier believed in Allah, and Allah cured him. He came back and sat with the king as before; when the king asked who had restored his sight, he said his Lord, and when the king asked whether he had a Lord other than him, he said, "My Lord and your Lord is Allah". The king tormented him until he pointed to the boy, and then tormented the boy, who still said that only Allah cures, until he pointed to the monk.[1]
• The monk was told to turn back from his religion and refused, and the king had him put to death; then the courtier was told the same, refused, and was put to death in the same way. Both gave their lives rather than give up their faith in Allah.[1][2]
• The boy too refused, and the king handed him to a group of his men to take up a mountain and throw him from its top unless he recanted. There the boy prayed, "O Allah, save me from them (in any way) Thou likest", the mountain shook and they fell, and he came walking back to the king. When the king asked what had happened to the soldiers he had sent with him, the boy said, "Allah has saved me from them". Al-Nawawi (vol. 18, p. 420) explains that the summit (dhurwa) is the top of the mountain and that it shook means it moved violently.[1][3]
• Then the king had him taken out to the middle of the sea in a small boat, to be thrown in unless he recanted. The boy made the same prayer, the boat overturned and his captors drowned, and again he came walking back. Al-Nawawi (vol. 18, p. 420) explains that the qurqur is a small ship, the meaning al-Qadi 'Iyad chose, and that the boat overturned.[1][3]
• The boy told the king he could not kill him unless he did as he said: gather the people on one plain, bind him to a tree trunk, take an arrow from his quiver and say, "In the name of Allah, the Lord of the young boy". The king did so, the arrow struck the boy's temple, and he put his hand to it and died. Al-Nawawi (vol. 18, p. 420) explains that the plain (sa'id) here is open, raised ground. The people cried out, "We affirm our faith in the Lord of this young man", three times.[1][3]
• The king was told that what he had feared had come upon him: the people had believed. Al-Nawawi (vol. 18, p. 421) explains that the ukhdud is a great trench in the earth, and that the trenches were dug at the mouths of the roads, at their entrances. Fires were lit in them, and whoever would not turn back from his religion was to be thrown in. Ibn Kathir, on 85:4, adds that Allah decreed what befell these servants of His at the hands of the disbelievers, and He is the Mighty, the Praiseworthy, even if the wisdom of it is hidden from many people.[1][3][4]
• At last a woman came with her child and held back from the fire; al-Nawawi (vol. 18, p. 421) explains that she stayed where she was, unwilling to enter it. Her child spoke to her: in Ibn Kathir's English, "Be patient mother! For verily, you are following the truth!" Allah revealed of them, in Saheeh International's English of 85:8, "And they resented them not except because they believed in Allāh, the Exalted in Might, the Praiseworthy"; Ibn Kathir explains that, in their persecutors' eyes, their only fault was their faith in Allah.[1][3][4][5]

• Hold firm to your faith under pressure: the monk, the courtier, the boy and the believing people all refused to turn back from it.[1][4]
• Only Allah heals: medicine and the people who give it are means, and the cure is from Him alone.[1]
• Do good sincerely, for Allah: the boy wanted no gifts and no credit, only that the man believe in the One who would return his sight.[1][2]
• The boy did not seek death; Allah saved him twice. When he gave his life, it was so that a whole people would come to believe in Allah alone, and those of the trench held to that same truth. Their only fault in their persecutors' eyes was their faith in Allah.[1][4][5]
• Allah suffices those who rely on Him: the boy asked Allah to deal with them as He willed, and each time he could say that Allah had sufficed him against them.[1]
• The door of repentance stays open: even to those who tormented the believers, Allah says in 85:10 that the punishment is for those who then did not repent. Ibn Kathir quotes al-Hasan al-Basri: look at this generosity and kindness, they killed Allah's friends and He still invites them to repent.[5][4]

These questions are written by Qabas Academy to help you reflect. They are not part of the hadith or its commentary.

1. The boy found the monk on his daily way to somewhere else. Who has quietly changed the direction of your life, and have you ever thanked them?
2. Offered every gift in the room, the boy said that only Allah cures. When people praise you for something good, how do you turn that praise back to Allah?
3. On the mountain and at sea the boy asked Allah to deal with his enemies however He willed. What weighs on you today that you could hand over to Allah in the same way?
4. A whole people believed because one young man stayed true. What small, steady act of faith might be someone else's reason to turn to Allah?