Musnad Abi Ya'la 5383 — A man was (absorbed) in his kingdom

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him): A man was (absorbed) in his kingdom and sovereignty when a thought came to him and he became certain that the luxury in which he was living would one day come to an end, and that this worldly preoccupation had made him neglectful of the worship of his Lord. So he slipped quietly out of his palace at night until he reached another kingdom. There he settled on the seashore and began making mud bricks, so that he could feed himself with the wages and worship his Lord. Then the king in whose realm that man was living came to know of his worship and his circumstances, so he sent for him, but the worshipper refused to come to him. When the king saw this, he rode out to him himself. When the worshipper saw the king coming, he began to flee from there. The king pursued him on his mount and called out: "O servant of Allah, you have no danger from me." Then the king dismounted and asked about his circumstances. The worshipper said: "I am so-and-so, and I was the ruler of such-and-such a kingdom. I realised that the perishable splendour in which I was would come to an end, and that it had kept me away from the worship of my Lord." Hearing this, the king said: "You are not more entitled than me to what you have done (that is, I too wish to travel this path)." Then he let his mount go and joined the worshipper, and the two of them began worshipping Allah together. Then they both prayed to Allah Almighty to grant them death together, and so they both died together and were buried. Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "If I were in the sandy plain of Egypt (Rumaylah), I would show you their two graves exactly according to the signs that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) described to us."