2. Ali ibn Muhammad and Muhammad ibn al-Hassan have narrated from Sahl ibn Ziyad from Bakr ibn Salih from Muhammad ibn Sinan from Mufaddal ibn ‘Umar who said the following: “We went to Abu ‘Abdallah and wanting to seek his permission. We heard him speaking in a language that was not Arabic, we imagined it was Syriac, then he cried and we cried because of his crying. Then the boy (his servant) came out and allowed us to enter. So we entered and I said, “May Allah keep you well, we came to ask permission for a meeting and we heard you speak in a non-Arabic language and we thought it was the Syriac language. Then we heard you weeping and because of that we also wept.” The Imams said, “Yes, I remembered Prophet Ilyas, one of the Israelite prophets devoted in worship. I then said what he used to say in his prostration. He then went into it in the Syriac language, by Allah, we had not seen any monk or minister as eloquent in it as he is. He then explained it to us in Arabic, “Ilyas would say in his prostration, ‘O Lord, will I find you punishing me although you know of thirst in the heat of the midday? Will I find you punishing me although you know that I rub my face on earth to worship you? Will I find you to punish me although you know that I give up sins for you? Will I find you punishing me although you know that I stay awake all night just for you?” The Imam then said, “Allah then told him through inspiration, “Rise your head from the earth. I will not punish you.” The Imam then said that he said to Allah, “If you say you will not punish me, and then you do, what then? Am I not your servant and you are my Lord?” The Imam said, “Allah then spoke to him through inspiration, “Rise your head. I will not punish you because when I make a promise, I fulfill it”