Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Sahihah

Sayyiduna Abu Sa‘id (may Allah be pleased with him) says: Shall I not narrate to you the hadith which I heard from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)? My ears heard that hadith and my heart remembered it. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “A man killed ninety-nine people, then he thought of repenting. He asked the people about the greatest scholar on the face of the earth. He was directed to a monk (priest). He went to him and asked that he had killed ninety-nine people, is there any repentance for such a person? He replied: After killing ninety-nine people? (There is no repentance for such a person.) So he drew his sword and killed him, thus completing one hundred. Then he thought of repenting, and he asked the people about the greatest scholar on earth. He was directed to a scholar. He went to him and said: I have killed one hundred people, is there any (possibility of) repentance for me? He said: Who can come between you and your repentance? But do this: leave this wicked town and go to such-and-such good town, for its people worship Allah, so worship Allah with them, and do not return to your own area, for it is an evil land. So he set out towards the good town, but death overtook him on the way. He dragged himself on his chest, moving away from the first land (a little) towards the other side. (To take his soul) the angels of mercy and the angels of punishment both came, and a dispute arose between them. Iblis said: I am more deserving of him, he never disobeyed me. But the angels of mercy said: He came repenting and with full attention of his heart towards Allah, and the angels of punishment said: He never did any good deed. Allah sent an angel in the form of a man. They presented their dispute before him. He said: See which town he is closer to, and count him among its people. Meanwhile, Allah commanded the land (from which he was coming) to move away, and commanded the land of the righteous (to which he was going) to come closer. When they measured, they found him to be a handspan closer to the land he was heading towards. So the angels of mercy took him and he was forgiven.” Hasan the narrator says: When he realized death was near, he shrank (towards the good town), and in another narration, he dragged himself on his chest (towards the good town). In any case, Allah brought him closer to the righteous town and farther from the wicked town, so those angels included him among the people of the good town.”