Muhammad b. Ibrahim b. Ishaq رحمه الله narrated to us. He said: Ahmad b. Muhammad al-Hamadani narrated to us. He said: Ahmad b. Salih b. Sa`d al-Tamimi informed us. He said: Musa b. Dawud narrated to us. He said: Al-Walid b. Hisham narrated to us. He said: Hisham b. Hassan narrated to us from al-Hasan b. Abi'l Hasan al-Basri from `Abd al-Rahman b. Ghanam al-Dusi. He said: Mu`adh b. Jabal visited the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم weeping. He greeted him with the salaam and he responded with the salaam. Then, he said: Why are you crying, O Mu`adh? So, he said: O Messenger of Allah! At the door, there is a youth who has a good physique, a clean complexion, and a good appearance. He is weeping over his youthhood as a bereaved mother weeps over her child, and he wants to visit you. So, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم said: Let the youth enter, O Mu`adh. So, he let him enter, and he greeted him with the salaam and he responded with the salaam. Then, he said: What is causing you to cry, O youth? He said: How can I not cry when I have committed sins that Allah would send me to the Fire of Hell for just one of them? He will not see me except that He will take me and never forgive me. So, the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم said: Have you associated any partners with Allah? He said: I seek refuge in Allah that I should associate any partners with my Lord. He said: Did you kill a soul that Allah has prohibited you from killing? He said: No. So, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم said: May Allah forgive your sins, even if they are like large mountains. So, the youth said: Surely, they are greater than large mountains. So, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم said: May Allah forgive your sins, even if they are like the seven Earths, their oceans, their grains of sand, their trees, and whatever is in them. He said: Surely, they are greater than the seven Earths, their oceans, their grains of sand, their trees, and whatever is in them. So, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم said: May Allah forgive your sins, even if they are like the seven heavens and its stars, even if they are like the Throne and the Seat. He said: They are greater than that. He said: So, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم looked at him angrily, then said: Beware, O youth. What is greater, your sins or your Lord? So, the youth fell on his face, saying: May my Lord be glorified! There is nothing greater than my Lord. My Lord is greater, O Prophet of Allah, than every great thing. So, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم said: Can anyone other than the great Lord forgive a great sin?! The youth said: No, by Allah, O Messenger of Allah. Then, the youth went silent. So, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم said to him: Woe to you, O youth! Will you inform me of one of your sins? He said: Of course, I will inform you. I was a grave robber for seven years. I would exhume the dead and take off their shrouds. A young woman from the girls of the Ansar had died. When she was carried to her grave and buried, her family left, and night came. I came to her grave, exhumed her, and took from her shrouds. I left her alone at the edge of her grave. Time passed, and Satan came to me, and he began to make her more pleasing to me, saying: "Did you see her stomach and her whiteness? Did you see her hips?" He did not stop saying this to me until I returned to her. I could not control myself, until I had intercourse with her and left her in her place. Then, I heard a voice from behind me, saying: "O youth! Beware of the debts of the Day of Religion; the day you and I will be raised. You left me naked on the frontiers of death, emptied me from my grave, took my shrouds, and left me in a state of impurity until my Judgment. Woe to your youthhood from the Fire." So, I do not think that I will ever smell the scent of Paradise. What do you see for me, O Messenger of Allah? So, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم said: Get away from me, O wretched one! Surely, I fear that I will get burned by your fire. How near you are to the Fire, how near you are to the Fire! He صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم did not stop speaking to him and pointing to him until he left his presence and went to Medina, picked up some things from it, and went to one of its mountains to worship therein; wearing a cloak made of hair. He bound his hands together to his neck and called: O Lord! This is your servant, Bahlul, and I am bound before You. O Lord! You are the one that knows me and my errors. O my Master, O Lord! I have become regretful, and I have come repentant to Your Prophet, but he sent me away and increased my fear. So, I ask You by Your name, Your majesty, and the greatness of Your power, to not diminish my hope, my Master; and to not invalidate my supplication, and to not deprive me of Your mercy. He did not stop saying this for forty days and nights. The lions and the beasts would weep for him. When forty days and nights had passed, he raised his hands to the sky and said: O Allah! What will you do regarding my need? Have you accepted my supplication and forgiven my mistake? If so, then send a revelation to Your Prophet. But, if You will not answer my supplication nor forgive my mistake, then I want my punishment; so, bring a fire that will burn me or a punishment in this world that will destroy me. Deliver me from the furor of the Day of Resurrection. So, Allah revealed to His Prophet صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم: "As for those who perform indecency" - meaning, fornication - "or wrong themselves" - meaning, commit a sin greater than fornication, grave robbing, and stealing shrouds - "remember Allah and seek forgiveness for their sins" - meaning, those who fear Allah and quickly repent - "who can forgive sins except Allah?" (3:135). He said: "My servant came to you repentant, O Muhammad, and you sent him away. So, where would he go, who should he seek, and who should he seek forgiveness for his sin besides Me?" Then, He said: "[and those] who do not persist in what they have done once they become cognizant." (3:135) - meaning, they no longer commit fornication, nor exhume graves, nor steal shrouds - "their reward is with their Lord - gardens beneath which rivers flow, wherein they will abide eternally - excellent is the reward of the doers of good" (3:136). When this verse was revealed to the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم, he came out reciting it and smiling. So, he said to his companions: Who will direct me to that repentant youth? So, Mu`adh said: O Messenger of Allah! We were told that he was in such-and-such place. So, the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم went with his companions until they ended up at that mountain; and they climbed it in search of the youth. They found the youth standing between two rocks with his hands bound to his neck. His face was blackened, and his eyelashes had fallen from weeping. He was saying: “O my Master! You have perfected my form, and made my form beautiful, so what will You do with me? Will You burn me in the Fire, or will You settle me in Your proximity? O Allah! You have bestowed me with much goodness, and You have blessed me; so, what will be my end – will You dress me in Paradise, or have me driven by the Fire? O Allah! My mistake is greater than the heavens, the Earth, Your widespread Seat and Your great Throne. So, will You forgive my mistake, or will You scandalize me with it on the Day of Resurrection?” He did not stop saying this, weeping and covering his head with dust. The lions surrounded him, and the birds lined up above him, weeping at his weeping. So, the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم came close, took his hands off his neck, and cleaned the dust off his head, and said: O Bahlul! Be happy, for Allah has freed you from the Fire. Then, he صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم said to his companions: This is how you redress your sins, just as Bahlul redressed them. Then, he recited what Allah revealed to him, and gave him glad tidings of Paradise.