Ibn Hibban

Sayyiduna Nu’man bin Bashir (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: I heard the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: “The example of the one who violates the limits set by Allah and the one who observes them, the one who commands it and the one who forbids it, is like a group of people who drew lots for their places in a boat on the sea. One of them got the rear part of the boat. That person is distant from his companions, and those people are foolish. Whenever people come there, they cause him trouble, so those people say, ‘We are closer to convenience among all the people of the boat and farther from the water, so come, let us break the lower part of the boat. When we are done with it, we will fix it back.’ Then, among them, the foolish person says, ‘Go ahead and do it,’ and he moves towards the axe to strike it on the floor of the boat. Then a wise person peeks at him and asks, ‘What are you doing?’ He says, ‘We are closer to convenience than you and farther from it than you. I am about to break the plank of the boat. When our need is fulfilled, we will close it back.’ So the wise person says, ‘Do not do this. If you do this, you will be destroyed and we too will be destroyed.’”