to Allāh," and the angels of punishment said: "He has never done any good." So Allāh, the Mighty and Majestic, sent an angel [in the form of a human] and they disputed before him. He said: "Look at which of the two towns he was closer to and join him to its people." [So Allāh inspired this one to come closer, and inspired that one to move farther away], [and they measured, and found him closer to the land he intended [by a span], so the angels of mercy took him] [and he was forgiven]. al-Ḥasan said: "When he realized death, he exerted himself (in another narration: he leaned with his chest) so Allāh brought the righteous town closer to him, and distanced the wicked town from him, and they joined him to the people of the righteous town." It was narrated by Aḥmad (3/20 and 72) through the route of Hammām ibn Yaḥyá: "Qatādah narrated to us from Abū al-Ṣiddīq al-Nājī from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī who said: 'I will not narrate to you except what I heard from the Messenger of Allāh (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam), my ears heard it and my heart comprehended it,' and he mentioned it in full except for the phrase between the dashes - Hammām said: 'Ḥumayd al-Ṭawīl narrated to me from Bakr ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Muzanī from Abū Rāfiʿ - and he mentioned it - then he returned to the narration of Qatādah and said: 'He said: Look...'" I said: "And this is a sound isnād according to the criteria of the two Shaykhs, and it was also narrated by al-Bukhārī (6/373 - Fatḥ) and Muslim (8/104) and al-Bayhaqī in 'Shuʿab al-Īmān' (2/352/1) from the narration of Ibn Abī ʿAdī from Shuʿbah from Qatādah in an abridged form, and it includes the addition: 'So Allāh inspired...' and the addition: 'and he leaned with his chest towards it.'" It was also narrated by Muslim, and al-Bayhaqī (2/352/1) through the route of Muʿādh ibn Hishām: "My father narrated to me from Qatādah... in a more complete form, and it includes all the additions, except for the addition 'by a span,' which is with him through the route of al-ʿAnbarī from Shuʿbah, and through the route of Ibn Abī ʿAdī from him." And it may be surprising to mention Iblīs in this story, but there is no strangeness in that after it has been established