Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah 34016 — What Allah gave Sulayman bin Dawud

Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: 600,000 chairs used to be set out for Sulayman bin Dawud (peace be upon them both). Then the nobles of mankind would come and sit on the right side, then the nobles of the jinn would come and sit on the left side. Then he would call the birds and they would shade them, then he would call the wind and it would carry them, and he would cover a month's journey in a single morning. One day, while he was travelling in this way through an open plain, he needed water. He called the hoopoe; it came, pecked the ground with its beak, and showed the place of the water. Then the devils came to that place and dug it open the way the skin of a goat is removed, and they drew water from that place. He said: At this, Nafi' bin al-Azraq said: O you who stop [at the text], stop! You say that the hoopoe came and pecked the ground at the place of the water. How can it see this when it cannot even see the snare that comes and falls upon its neck? Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: Woe to you! Destiny comes between the eyes and what they see.