Hadith 12
12/12 ــ وَعَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ الرَّحْمن عبد الله بْنِ عُمَرَ بْنِ الْخَطَّابِ رضي الله عنهما قَالَ: سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ الله صلى الله عليه وسلم يَقُولُ: «انْطَلَقَ ثَلاَثَةُ نَفَرٍ مِمَّنْ كَانَ قَبْلَكُمْ حَتَّىٰ آوَاهُمُ الْمَبِيتُ إِلىٰ غَارٍ فَدَخَلُوهُ، فانْحَدَرَتْ صَخْرَةٌ مِنَ الْجَبَلِ فَسَدَّتْ عَلَيْهمُ الْغَارَ. فَقَالُوا: إِنَّهُ لا يُنْجِيكُمْ مِنْ هذِهِ الصَّخْرَةِ إِلَّا أَنْ تَدْعُوا الله بِصَالِحِ أَعْمَالِكُمْ، قَالَ رَجُلٌ مِنْهُمْ: اللهم كَانَ لِي أَبَوَانِ شَيْخَانِ كَبِيرَانِ، وَكُنْتُ لاَ أَغْبِقُ قَبْلَهما أَهْلاً وَلا مالاً ، فَنَأَىٰ بِي طَلَبُ الشَّجَرِ يَوْماً فَلَمْ أُرِحْ عَلَيْهِمَا حَتَّىٰ نَامَا، فَحَلَبْت لَهُمَا غَبُوقَهُمَا فَوَجَدْتُهُمَا نَائمَيْنِ، فَكَرِهْتُ أَنْ أُوقظَهُمَا وَأنْ أغْبِقَ قَبْلَهُمَا أَهْلاً أَوْ مَالاَ، فَلَبِثْتُ ـ وَالْقَدَحُ عَلَىٰ يَدِي ـ أنْتَظِرُ اسْتِيقَاظَهُمَا حَتَىٰ بَرَقَ الْفَجْرُ، والصِّبْيَةُ يَتَضَاغَوْنَ عِنْدَ قَدَمي، فاسْتَيْقَظَا فَشَرِبَا غَبُوقَهُمَا. اللهم إِنْ كُنْتُ فَعَلْتُ ذلِكَ ابْتِغَاءَ وَجْهِكَ فَفَرِّجْ عَنَّا مَا نَحْنُ فِيهِ مِنْ هذِهِ الصَّخْرَةِ، فَانْفَرَجَتْ شَيْئاً لا يَسْتَطيعُونَ الْخُرُوجَ مِنْهُ. قَالَ الآخرُ: اللهم إِنَّهُ كَانَتْ لِيَ ابْنَةُ عَمٍّ كَانَتْ أَحَبَّ النَّاسِ إِلَيَّ، وَفِي رِوَاية: كُنْتُ أُحبُّهَا كأشَدِّ مَا يُحِبُّ الرِّجَالُ النِّسَاءَ، فَأَرَدْتُهَا عَلَىٰ نَفْسَها فَامْتَنَعَتْ مِنِّي، حَتَّىٰ أَلَمَّتْ بِها سَنَةٌ مِنَ السِّنِينَ فَجَاءتْنِي، فَأَعْطَيْتُهَا عِشْرِينَ وَمَائةَ دِينَارٍ عَلَىٰ أَنْ تخَلِّيَ بَيْنِي وَبَيْنَ نَفْسِهَا فَفَعَلَتْ، حَتَّىٰ إِذَا قَدَرْتُ عَلَيْهَاوَفِي رِوَايَةٍ: فَلَمَّا قَعَدْتُ بَيْنَ رِجْلَيْهَا، قَالَتْ: اتَّقِ اللهَ وَلاَ تَفُضَّ الْخَاتَمَ إِلَّا بِحَقِّهِ، فَانْصَرَفْتُ عَنْهَا وَهِيَ أَحَبُّ النَّاسِ إِلَيّ، وَتَرَكْتُ الذَّهَبَ الَّذِي أَعْطَيْتُهَا، اللهم إِنْ كُنْتُ فَعَلْتُ ذلِكَ ابْتِغَاءَ وَجْهِكَ فَافْرُجْ عَنَّا مَا نَحْنُ فِيهِ، فانْفَرَجَتِ الصَخْرَةُ غَيْرَ أَّنهُمْ لا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ الْخُرُوج مِنْهَا. وَقَالَ الثَّالِثُ: اللهم اسْتَأْجَرْتُ أُجَرَاءَ وَأَعْطَيْتُهمْ أَجْرَهُمْ، غَيْرَ رَجُل وَاحِدٍ تَرَكَ الَّذي لَهُ وَذَهَبَ، فَثَمَّرْتُ أَجْرَهُ حَتَّىٰ كَثُرَتْ مِنْهُ الأَمْوَالُ، فَجَاءنِي بَعْدَ حِين فَقَالَ: يَا عَبْدَ الله أَدِّ إِلَيَّ أجْرِي، فَقُلْتُ: كُلُّ مَا تَرَىٰ مِنْ أَجْرِكَ؛ مِنَ الإبِلِ وَالْبقَرِ وَالْغَنَمِ وَالرَّقِيقِ، فَقَالَ: يَا عَبْدَ الله لا تَسْتَهْزِئْ بِي! فَقُلْتُ لا أَسْتَهْزِئُ بِكَ، فَأَخَذَهُ كُلَّهُ فاسْتَاقَهُ فَلَمْ يَتْرُكْ مِنْهُ شيْئاً، اللهم إِنْ كُنْتُ فَعَلْتُ ذلِكَ ابْتِغَاءَ وَجْهِكَ فَافْرُجْ عَنَّا مَا نَحْنُ فِيهِ، فَانْفَرَجَتِ الصَّخْرَةُ فَخَرَجُوا يَمْشُونَ». مُتَفَقٌ عَلَيْهِ.
Full Translation
On the authority of Abu Abd al-Rahman Abdullah ibn Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with both of them) who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say:
“Three men from those who came before you set out travelling, until nightfall forced them to shelter in a cave and they entered it. A boulder rolled down from the mountain and blocked the entrance of the cave.
They said to one another: Nothing will save you from this boulder except that you call upon Allah through your righteous deeds.
The first man said: “O Allah — I had two elderly parents, and I would not give evening drink to family or wealth before serving them. One day I went far in search of grazing and did not return until they had fallen asleep. I milked their evening drink and found them sleeping. I hated to wake them, and hated to give anyone — family or wealth — their drink before them. So I stood — with the cup in my hand — waiting for them to wake, until the dawn broke, while the children were crying at my feet. Then they woke and drank their evening drink. O Allah — if I did that seeking Your face, then relieve us of what we are in from this boulder.” The boulder moved — but not enough to exit.
The second man said: “O Allah — I had a female cousin who was the most beloved of all people to me.” In one narration: “I loved her as intensely as men love women. I sought her for herself but she refused me — until a year of hardship struck her and she came to me. I gave her one hundred and twenty dinars on the condition that she give herself to me — and she agreed. When I was able to have her,” — in one narration: “when I sat between her legs” — “she said: Fear Allah, and do not break the seal except by its right.” So I turned away from her — and she was the most beloved of people to me — and I left the gold I had given her. O Allah — if I did that seeking Your face, then relieve us of what we are in.” The boulder moved further — but still not enough to exit.
The third man said: “O Allah — I hired workers and paid all of them their wages, except one man who left what was owed to him and departed. I invested his wage until wealth grew greatly from it. He came to me after some time and said: O servant of Allah, give me my wage. I said: Everything you see is from your wage — the camels, the cattle, the sheep, and the servants. He said: O servant of Allah, do not mock me! I said: I am not mocking you. So he took it all and drove it away and left nothing behind. O Allah — if I did that seeking Your face, then relieve us of what we are in.” The boulder moved and they walked out free.”
Agreed upon.
Meanings of Key Words
- Antalaq (انْطَلَقَ) — they set out; a journey that began normally — no sign of what was coming
- Awahum al-mabeet (آوَاهُمُ الْمَبِيتُ) — nightfall forced them to shelter; they did not choose the cave — circumstance drove them there
- Sakharah (صَخْرَةٌ) — a boulder; not a pebble, not a door — a mountain rock that sealed them completely
- Bi-salih a’malikum (بِصَالِحِ أَعْمَالِكُمْ) — through your righteous deeds; tawassul — using sincere past deeds as the means of supplication
- La agbiq (لاَ أَغْبِقُ) — I would not give evening drink before them; “ghubooq” is the evening milk — the last provision of the day, given to the most important first
- Baraq al-fajr (بَرَقَ الْفَجْرُ) — until the dawn broke; he stood all night, cup in hand — not for minutes, for hours
- Al-sibya yatadaghoon (الصِّبْيَةُ يَتَضَاغَوْنَ) — the children crying at his feet; his own children, hungry, weeping — and he still did not move the cup
- Ibtighaa’ wajhik (ابْتِغَاءَ وَجْهِكَ) — seeking Your face; the phrase each man uses — the single condition that makes the deed a key
- La tafudh al-khatam illa bi-haqqih (لاَ تَفُضَّ الْخَاتَمَ إِلاَّ بِحَقِّهِ) — do not break the seal except by its right; her words at the most vulnerable moment — meaning: only through marriage
- Tharrartu ajrahu (فَثَمَّرْتُ أَجْرَهُ) — I invested his wage; he did not keep it, did not spend it — he grew it faithfully as a trust
- Fanfarajat fa-kharajoo yamshoon (فَانْفَرَجَتِ الصَّخْرَةُ فَخَرَجُوا يَمْشُونَ) — the boulder moved and they walked out; the final image — free, walking, saved
Hadith Lessons
This is the longest hadith in the chapter on sincerity — and it earns every word. It is a story that carries three different human beings through three entirely different tests, and shows that the same key — sincere action done purely for Allah — opens the same impossible door, every time.
The Cave Is Not the Crisis — The Crisis Came Before
Each of these three men did something right long before the boulder fell. The first served his parents through a whole night — not in a moment of emergency, but in an ordinary evening when he came home tired and found them asleep. The second walked away from a woman he desperately wanted — not because he was strong, but because her words landed in his heart at the last possible moment. The third invested a stranger’s forgotten wage for years — not because anyone was watching, not because the worker would ever come back, but because the money was a trust.
None of these acts were performed for a cave. None of them were calculated moves to build a spiritual reserve. They were done — in quiet, unglamorous, privately difficult moments — seeking only the face of Allah. And then, years or decades later, those deeds became the only key that could open a sealed mountain.
This is the architecture of sincere living: you do not know which deed will matter most when everything else fails. The act you thought was small, private, and forgotten — Allah kept it. And when the boulder comes, it is ready.
The First Man — A Cup, an All-Night Wait, and Children Crying at His Feet
The image the Prophet ﷺ paints is extraordinarily vivid. A man stands in the dark, a cup of milk in his hand, his elderly parents asleep before him. He will not wake them — that would disturb their rest. He will not drink himself or give to his children first — that would betray the priority he has always kept. So he stands. And the children cry at his feet. And the dawn comes. And he stands still.
This is not a dramatic sacrifice. No one saw it. No one recorded it. The children crying make it harder, not easier — and he still does not move. What holds him there is not willpower alone. It is a settled understanding of who deserves what, and a heart that has placed Allah’s pleasure above every other pull in that moment.
He does not say “I was a good son.” He says: “O Allah — if I did that seeking Your face.” The “if” is not doubt. It is the humility of a man who knows that Allah alone can see whether the intention was truly pure — and he places that judgement entirely with Allah.
The boulder moves. But only partway.
The Second Man — The Most Honest Story of Human Desire in the Sunnah
The Prophet ﷺ does not sanitise this story. He tells it as it happened. A man loved a woman with the full intensity of human desire. He pursued her. He was refused. He waited for her vulnerability — and when it came, he used money to get what he wanted. He had her in the most compromising position imaginable.
And then she said four words: “Fear Allah. Do not break the seal except by its right.”
Four words from a desperate woman in a desperate situation. And something in him — something real, something that had been dormant — heard it. He stopped. He stood up. He left the gold. He walked away from the most beloved person in his life at the moment he had finally reached her.
This is not a story about a man who was never tempted. It is a story about a man who was fully inside his temptation — and still turned back. The turning back, not the absence of desire, is what Allah accepted. He made the intention to stop seeking only the face of Allah — not because the desire vanished, but because something higher won in that moment.
The boulder moves further. But still not enough.
The Third Man — A Forgotten Wage, an Invested Trust, and a Herd That Became a Fortune
This story is quieter than the first two — and perhaps the most relevant to modern life. A worker left without collecting his wage. No forwarding address. No contact. No obligation on anyone to do anything more. The employer could have kept the money. No one would have known. No court would have ruled against him.
Instead, he invested it. For years. Until camels, cattle, sheep, and servants accumulated from that single unpaid wage. When the worker finally returned — perhaps expecting nothing, or perhaps embarrassed to ask — the employer handed him everything. Every animal. Every servant. The entire accumulated wealth.
The worker thought he was being mocked. The employer said: I am not mocking you. And the man took it all and left.
This is what trust looks like when it is rooted in Allah-consciousness rather than human accountability. Not “I’ll keep it safe until he comes back.” But “I will grow it as if it were my most precious responsibility — because it is his, and Allah is watching.” The absence of any human witness did not change the man’s behaviour by a single degree. That is the definition of sincerity.
The boulder moves entirely. They walk out free.
Why Three Deeds — and Why in This Order
The three deeds form a deliberate progression. The first is about family duty — honouring parents above personal comfort. The second is about desire and restraint — the hardest internal battle a person can fight. The third is about financial trust — honesty with wealth when no one is watching.
Together they cover the three areas where human sincerity is most severely tested: family obligations, personal desires, and financial dealings. And in all three — the same condition applies: “if I did that seeking Your face.”
The boulder needed all three to move completely. One sincere deed cracked it. Two moved it further. Three opened it entirely. This is not a formula — it is a portrait of a complete sincere life: multiple deeds, multiple domains, all pointing the same direction.
The Condition That Made Them Keys
Each man closes his du’a with the same phrase: “O Allah — if I did that seeking Your face (ibtighaa’ wajhik).” Not “I was righteous.” Not “I deserve this.” Not “look at what I gave up.” But: if my intention was truly for You — then You know it, and I am placing my hope in that.
This is tawassul through sincere deeds — using the purity of past acts as the means of approaching Allah in crisis. And the condition that makes a deed usable in this way is precisely what this entire chapter has been building toward: the deed must have been done for Allah’s face alone, with no other audience in mind.
The man who served his parents for praise could not use that night as a key. The man who walked away from the woman to look virtuous could not use that restraint. The man who invested the wage to be known as honest could not use that wealth. The keys only work when the intention was genuine — and Allah, who recorded the deeds originally, is the One who verifies the intention now.
Three Questions to Close With
- Is there a deed in my past — quiet, private, costly, unseen — that I did purely for Allah? Do I know that deed is recorded, waiting, and can become a key I may not yet know I will need?
- Which of the three tests — family duty, personal desire, or financial trust — is the area where my sincerity is most tested right now?
- If I were in that cave tonight, which deed from my life would I call upon — and would I say it with the confidence that it was truly done seeking only the face of Allah?