What Impels You to Seclusion

28 - ʿAbd Allāh narrated to us, he said: Ḥamza ibn al-ʿAbbās al-Marwazī narrated to us, he said: ʿAbdān ibn ʿUthmān reported to us, he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak reported to us, he said: Ibn Lahīʿa reported to us, he said: Bakr ibn Sawāda narrated to me, he said: There was a man who withdrew from people, living completely alone. Abū al-Dardāʾ came to him and said: "I adjure you by Allah! What impels you to withdraw from people?" He replied: "I fear that my religion will be stripped away from me without me realizing." He said: "Do you think there are one hundred men in the army who fear what you fear?" He kept reducing the number until he reached ten. Then he narrated that to a man from the people of Syria, who said: "That was Shuraḥbīl ibn al-Simṭ." (1)