103 - ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rūmī al-Yamāmī narrated to us, Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm narrated to us, from ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn Maʿqil, from Wahb ibn Munabbih, who said: One of the cutpurses asked him, saying: "O Abū ʿAbd Allāh, have you heard of an affliction or punishment more severe than what we are in?" He said: "If you were to look at what you are in compared to what has passed before, what you are in would be like smoke next to fire."

Then he said: A woman from the Children of Israel called Sāra and seven sons of hers were brought to a king who used to persecute people to force them to eat pork. He called the eldest of them and brought pork near to him, saying: "Eat." He said: "I would never eat anything that Allah has prohibited for me." So he ordered him to be taken, and his hands and feet were cut off, and he dismembered him limb by limb until he killed him. Then he called the next one and said: "Eat." He said: "I would never eat anything that Allah has prohibited for me." So he ordered a copper cauldron to be filled with pitch and boiled; when it boiled, he threw him into it. Then he called the next one and said: "Eat." He said: "You are more vile, insignificant, and worthless to Allah than for me to eat anything that Allah has prohibited for me." The king laughed and then said: "Do you know what he intended by insulting me? He wanted to anger me so I would hasten his execution, but that shall fail him." So he ordered him, and the skin of his neck was cut, then he ordered that the skin of his head and face be flayed off, so it was flayed off. He continued to kill each one of them with a type of punishment different from that of his brother, until only the youngest remained. He turned to him and to his mother, and said to her: "I feel pity for you because of what you have seen. Go with this son of yours, be alone with him, and persuade him to eat just one morsel so that he may live for you." She said: "Yes." So she was alone with him and said: "O my son, know that every one of your brothers had one right over me, but you have two rights over me. That is because I nursed each one of them for two full years; then your father died while I was pregnant with you, and when I gave birth to you, I nursed you—because of your weakness and my mercy for you—for four years. So I have two rights over you. I ask you by Allah and by my right over you to be patient and not eat anything of what Allah has prohibited for you, and let me not find your brothers on the Day of Resurrection while you are not with them." He said: "Praise be to Allah Who allowed me to hear this from you! For I only feared that you would urge me to eat what Allah has prohibited for me." Then she brought him to the king and said: "Here he is; I have urged him and resolved his mind." The king ordered him to eat, but he said: "I would never eat anything that Allah Almighty has prohibited for me." So he killed him and joined him with his brothers, and said to their mother: "Woe to you! I find myself taking even more pity on you after what you saw today. Eat one morsel, then I will do with you whatever you wish, and I will give you whatever you like to live on."

She said: "Shall I combine the loss of my children with disobedience to Allah? Even if I were to live after them, I would not desire that, nor would I ever eat anything of what Allah has prohibited for me." So he killed her and joined her with her sons.