82 - 'Abdullāh narrated to us, Muḥammad narrated to me, he said: Muḥammad ibn 'Abdillāh al-Khuzā'ī narrated to me, a man from the people of Syria narrated to me: that he entered a mountain cave set apart from the path of people, and suddenly he came upon an old man prostrate on his face, saying: "If I have thirsted with all my effort in the abode of this world, yet You prolong my misery in the Hereafter, then You have indeed neglected me and dropped me from Your sight, O Most Generous One!" He said: So I greeted him with peace, and he raised his head, and behold, his tears had soaked the ground. He said: "Was not the world spacious enough for you, and its people companions for you?" When I saw of his intellect what I saw, I said to him: "May Allah have mercy on you, why have you withdrawn from people and lived as a stranger in this place?" He said: "And you, my brother: wherever you think is closer for you to Allah, seek a path to it, for those who seek Him will never find a substitute in anything else." He said: I said: "What about food?" He said: "I receive that when there is a need for it." He said: I said: "And what about water jars?" He said: "When we want that, He causes the earth and the hearts of trees to yield." He said: I said: "Shall I not take you out of this place and bring you to a fertile land of abundance?" He said: So he wept, then said: "Fertility and abundance are only where Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is obeyed. And I am an old man dying now, and I have no need for people." (1)