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This Hadīth tells an amazing story. A king from the old time had a sorcerer whom he took as a counselor for his own benefit, even if that was at the expense of religion, because he was selfish, autocratic and made people worship him. On becoming old, the sorcerer asked the king to send him a boy whom he could teach magic. He wanted a boy, because at that age one could easily receive and memorize knowledge. However, Allah willed good for that boy. One day, this boy passed by a monk. He listened to him and his words pleased him, because this monk was a worshipper of Allah and spoke only what was good. The monk could have been a scholar too, but he was more monastic than scholastic. So whenever the boy set out from his family’s house, he would sit for a while with this monk, and would be late for the sorcerer. Hence, the sorcerer used to beat him, wondering why he was late. The boy then complained to the monk and asked him for a way out of that trouble. The monk advised him to tell the sorcerer that his family was behind his delay whenever he feared his punishment; and to tell his family that the sorcerer was the cause of his delay whenever they asked him. This way could spare him the punishment of both the sorcerer and his family. The monk advised him to lie in that situation probably because he thought that the benefit here outweighed the harm of lying, or he used "detained" as an allusion to spiritual detention. The boy acted on the monk's advice and he used to go to him and listen to him. One day, a huge animal, i.e. a lion, passed and held people from passing. The boy wanted to check who was better than the other, the monk or the sorcerer. So, he picked a stone and supplicated Allah, the Almighty, to let that stone kill that animal if the monk was better in His sight than the sorcerer. He, then, threw the stone and it killed the animal, and people were able to pass. Thus, the boy knew that the monk was better than the magician. He informed the monk of what had happened, and the monk told him that he was better than him, and that he reached a stage where he would be tested, and asked him not to inform on him. The boy used to treat people suffering from congenital blindness, leprosy, and other diseases. There was a companion of the king who had become blind and he heard about the boy. He brought him many gifts and told him that all these gifts would be his if he cured him. The boy told him that he could not cure anybody; it is only Allah, the Exalted, who cures. Moreover, he informed him that if he believed in Allah, he would supplicate Him to cure him. The man, thus, believed in Allah, the Exalted, and Allah cured him. The blind man who was once a companion of the king, and who believed in Allah was brought to the king and was ordered to renounce his new religion, but he refused. This indicates that one should have patience. Then the monk was brought and ordered to give up his religion, but he refused. So, he was sawed into two halves from the middle of his head. The boy, then, was brought and was ordered to renounce his belief, but he refused. So the king handed him over to a group of his people and ordered them to take him to the top of a mountain, then see if he abandoned his religion; otherwise they should throw him therefrom. They took him and when they ascended to the top, he supplicated Allah to save him from them by any means that He wishes. So, the mountain shook and they all fell down and the boy came back walking to the king and told him that Allah had saved him from them. So, the king turned him over to a group of his people and ordered them to take him on a boat to the middle of the sea, and if he refused to renounce his religion, they should throw him overboard. They took him out to sea and he said the same supplication again and the boat capsized and they all drowned. Then the boy came walking back to the king and told him that he would not be able to kill him except by following his instructions. The boy ordered the king to gather the people in one place and tie him to a trunk; then take an arrow from his quiver and say, ‘In the Name of Allah, the Lord of the boy’, then shoot it at him. The king did that and when he shot the arrow, it hit the boy in the temple, and he died. People believed in Allah and the king's worst fears came true. So, he ordered that trenches should be dug and fires should be kindled therein, and whoever refused to give up his religion should be thrown into the fire. A woman then came with her child and she was hesitant about jumping into the fire, out of pity for her child, but that child told her to be patient because she was on the right path.
