Repentance from preoccupation with Duniya !

Ja’far bin Sulaymaan said, “Maalik bin Dinaar and I passed through al-Basrah, so while we were circling it, we passed by a palace that was being built. There was a young man sitting. I have not seen a face more beautiful than his. And he was dictating the building of the palace, saying, ‘Do this,’ and ‘Build that.’ So Maalik said to me, ‘What do you think of this young man and his beautiful face and his care over this building? Something has made me want to ask my Lord to rescue him, perhaps He will make him of the youth of Jannah, o Ja’far! Let us enter upon him.’

Ja’far said, “So we entered and we greeted him, and he returned the greeting, and he did not recognize Maalik. So when he became acquainted with him, he rose to him and said, ‘Do you have a need?’ He said, ‘How much do you intend to spend on this palace?’ He said, ‘One hundred thousand dirhams.’ (Maalik) said, ‘Would you not give me that money so that I spend it duly, and guarantee for you upon Allah a palace better than this palace, with its young children and its servants, and its domes and its tents of red rubies, studded with jewels, its soil saffron, its cement misk, vaster than this palace of yours, indestructible, no two hands have ever touched it, nor was it constructed by a builder; the Glorious said to it ‘Be!’ so it was?’ (The young man) said, ‘Defer for the night and come to me early in the morning.’

Ja’far said, “So Maalik passed the night thinking of the young man, so when it was the time before daybreak, he supplicated and increased in supplication. So when we awoke, we left early, and we found the young man sitting. So when he saw Maalik he smiled at him and he said, ‘What do you say about what I said yesterday? Will you do it?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ So (Maalik) was taken by surprise, and he called for an inkwell and a sheet of paper and he wrote, “Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem. This is what Maalik bin Dinaar guarantees to Fulaan bin Fulaan. I guaranteed for you upon Allah a palace in place of your palace, with the attributes I described, and the extra is on Allah. And I bought for you with this money a palace in al-Jannah, vaster than the cooling shade, close to al-Azeez al-Jaleel.’ Then he rolled up the letter and paid it to the young man, and we carried the money.

“The night did not pass on Maalik but that there was only left with him the amount for one night’s foodstuff. There did not pass upon the young man 40 nights before, one day, Maalik was praying the early morning prayer, and when he finished, there was letter, placed in the mihraab. So he took it and unfolded it, and on the back of it was written without ink, ‘This is a certificate from Allah, al-Azeez, al-Hakeem, to Maalik ibn Dinaar. We have paid the young man the palace that you guaranteed for him, and an addition of seventy-times like it.’

(Ja’far) said, “So Maalik remained there astounded, and he took the letter. So we rose and went to the house of the young man. We approached, and the door was dark and there was weeping coming from inside the house. So we said, ‘What happened to the young man?’ They said, ‘He died yesterday.’ So we summoned the washer. We said, ‘Did you wash him?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ Maalik said, ‘Then tell us what you did.’ He said, ‘(The young man) said to me before dying, ‘If I die and you enshroud me, place this letter between my shroud and my body.’ So I placed the letter between the shroud and his body, and I buried him with it.’ So Maalik took out the letter, and the washer said, ‘This is the exact letter, I swear by the One who grasped his soul. I placed it between his shroud and his body with my hands.’ He said, ‘So he wept much.’ A young man arose and said, ‘O Maalik! Take from me one hundred thousand dirhams and guarantee for me something like this!’ (Maalik) said, ‘How impossible! What is done is done, and what has passed has passed, and Allah decides what He wishes.’ And whenever Maalik mentioned the young man, he wept and supplicated for him.”

[Ibn Qudaamah’s At-Tawaabeen, p. 153-154]