His saying, the Exalted: "death will overtake you."

5640 - Abu Sa'id ibn Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Qattan narrated to us, 'Isa ibn Humayd al-Rasibi narrated to us, Kathir al-Kufi narrated to us, Mujahid Abu al-Hajjaj narrated to us, who said: Before the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was sent, there was a woman who had a hired worker. The woman gave birth, so she said to her hired worker: "Go and get me some fire." The hired worker went off, and there he was with two men standing at the door. One of them said to his companion: "What did she give birth to?" She said: "She gave birth to a girl." One of them said to his companion: "This girl will not die until she has committed zina (fornication) with one hundred [men], and the hired worker marries her, and her death will be by a spider." The hired worker said: "By Allah, I will surely prove your statement false." He threw down what was in his hand, took a knife, sharpened it, and said: "Do you not see me marrying her after she commits zina with one hundred?"

He said: I heard Mujahid saying: He slit her liver, threw down the knife, and thought that he had killed her. The little girl cried out, her mother stood up, saw that her abdomen had been split open, so she stitched it up and treated her until she recovered. The hired worker went his own way. He remained for as long as Allah willed him to remain, and the hired worker acquired wealth. He wished to go to his land to see who among them had died and who remained. He approached until he stayed with an old woman, and he said to the old woman: "Find me the most beautiful woman in the land so that I may have relations with her and I will give her [a reward]." The old woman went to that woman—who was the most beautiful girl in the land—and invited her to the man, saying: "You will receive a kindness from him." She refused her and said: "That was once the case for me in the past, but as for today, it has occurred to me not to do so." She returned to the man and informed him, so he said: "Then propose her to me." She proposed her, and he married her, and he was impressed by her. When he felt comfortable with her, he told her his story. She said: "By Allah, if you are truthful, my mother told me your story, and I am that girl." He said: "You?" She said: "I am." He said: "By Allah, if it is you, then you have a mark that is not hidden." She uncovered her abdomen, and there was the scar of the knife. He said: "By Allah, the two men spoke the truth to me. By Allah, you have committed zina with one hundred, and I am the hired worker, and I have married you, and it will be the third [time], and your death will be by a spider." She said: "By Allah, that was from me, but I do not know if it was less or more." He said:

"By Allah, it was not one less, nor was it one more." Then he went to a part of the village and built in it for fear of the spider. He remained for as long as Allah willed him to remain until, when the time came, he went to look, and there was the spider in the ceiling of the house, and she was beside him. He said: "By Allah, I am looking at the spider in the ceiling of the house." She said: "Is this the one you claim will kill me? By Allah, I will surely kill it before it kills me."