Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah 36927 — Reports on the breadth of the mercy

It is narrated from Abu Burdah that when the time of death drew near for Sayyiduna Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him), he said: "O my sons, remember the man of the loaf. There was a man who worshipped in his hermitage for seventy years. Then one day he came down, and Satan appeared before his eyes in the likeness of a woman, and he committed fornication with her for seven days and seven nights. Then his error became clear to him, and he set out to repent. Whenever he took a step he would pray and prostrate. At night he took shelter in a shop in which there were twelve poor men. He was utterly exhausted, and he threw himself down between two of them. There was a monk there who used to send them loaves every night, giving each person one loaf. The man with the loaves came and gave each person a loaf, and he also passed by the man who had come out of the hermitage to repent. He thought that he too was a poor man, and gave him a loaf as well. One of them, who had been left out, said to the man with the loaves: 'What is the matter, that you did not give me my loaf?' He said: 'Do you think I am withholding it from you? Ask: have I given any of you two loaves?' They said: 'No.' He said: 'I will withhold from you; by Allah, I will give you nothing tonight.' The man who was repenting went to the loaf that had been given to him and gave it to the man who had been left out. In the morning the repenting man was found dead. His seventy years of good deeds were weighed against the sin of those seven nights, and they did not weigh enough. Then that loaf was weighed against those seven nights, and the pan with the loaf went down." Sayyiduna Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "O my sons, remember the man of the loaf."