Abu Burdah (rahimahullah) once mentioned:

When my father, Sayyiduna Abu Moosa Ash‘ari (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) was close to passing away, he said to me, “O my beloved son! Always remember the incident of the man and the bread.”

Sayyiduna Abu Moosa Ash‘ari (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) then narrated the incident:

Once, there was a man who lived in a monastery for seventy years, engaged in the worship of Allah Ta‘ala. He would only emerge from this monastery on a Sunday.

One Sunday, as per his routine, he left the monastery. However, on this occasion, Shaitaan managed to make him glance at a woman, and he made the woman appear beautiful and attractive in his eyes. The man (thus fell in love with her, abandoned his ‘ibaadah and) spent seven nights and seven days with her.

When the seven days and nights had elapsed, he came to his senses, realizing what he had done. He thus left in repentance and remorse. Such was his regret that with every step he took, he would perform salaah and prostrate before Allah Ta‘ala.

As night set in, he sought refuge on a platform which had twelve destitute people on it. Exhausted, he collapsed on the platform between two of them.

Every night, a monk who lived in the area would send loaves of bread for these destitute people, giving one loaf to each person. That night, when the person who brought the bread handed one loaf to each destitute, he passed by the man from the monastery and also gave him a loaf, mistaking him to be one of the destitute people.

As a result, there was one loaf short, leaving one of the destitute without his daily loaf. He thus addressed the man distributing the bread and said, “Why have you not given me my loaf? I am also in need of it!” The man replied, “Do you see me withholding any bread from you (i.e. I have distributed all the bread)? Ask your companions whether I have given any of them two loaves.” However, when they were questioned, they all replied that they had received only one loaf each. Annoyed, the distributor threatened, “I will not give you anything. By Allah! I will not give you anything tonight!”

Having observed this, the man from the monastery realized that he was to blame, as he had taken the loaf meant for the destitute person. He thus approached the destitute and handed over the loaf to him.

That very night, the man from the monastery passed away. When his seventy years of worship was weighed against the seven nights which he spent with the woman in sin, the seven nights of sin proved to be weightier. However, the loaf which he gave to the destitute person was then weighed against the seven nights of sin and that proved weightier, resulting in his salvation.

Sayyiduna Abu Moosa (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) then repeated his advice saying, “O my beloved son! Always remember the incident of the man and the bread.”

(Musannaf Ibni Abi Shaibah #35353 & ‘Uyoonul Hikaayaat pg. 29)

Lessons:

1. Often a person feels brave enough to disobey Allah Ta‘ala as he feels that his good deeds will be sufficient to ‘cover up’ for his sins and will balance the scales. However, the reality is that although we may have carried out many good deeds, we do not know whether these deeds will have any weight on the scale or not. Sometimes, a person may have performed one good deed that was so beloved to Allah Ta‘ala that it outweighed all his sins. On the contrary, it may be that a person committed a sin that was so disliked by Allah Ta‘ala that it outweighed all his good actions, and in a few moments, he destroyed a lifetime of good. Hence, we can never be complacent or confident, but should always be cautious and beg Allah Ta‘ala to accept us and forgive us.

2. No matter how pious a person may be, or how much ‘ibaadah he may engage in, or how pure he may be from sin, or whose company he remains in – he should always fear the attack of Shaitaan. He should never ever feel that he is immune to Shaitaan’s attack and that his desires are under complete control. Likewise, one should never feel that he can sin now as there will be ample time to repent later. In the case of the man who left the monastery, the seven nights of sin were among the last eight nights of his life. Had he passed away just one night earlier, he would have died in sin.

3. When the man in the monastery came to his senses, he immediately set out in repentance and tried to make amends. Hence, with every step that he took, he performed salaah and fell into sajdah before Allah Ta‘ala. When we fall into sin, we must adopt the same procedure. Over and above repenting to Allah Ta‘ala, we must try to make amends by exerting ourselves in avenues of righteousness.

4. When the man realized that he was the cause of the destitute person not receiving his bread, he immediately gave him preference and handed over the bread to him, choosing to remain hungry that night. It was this act of giving preference to the next person, despite also being in need, which became the means of his salvation.

5. Just as the monk would feed the destitute people daily, we too should try to give some sadaqah, within our means, on a daily basis. This will not only be a means of us earning reward, but will also be a means of us earning the du‘aas of people and attracting the disbelievers to Islam.