One Them

"One of them replied, 'He is a hypocrite and does not love Allah and His Apostle.' On that Allah's\n\nApostle said, 'Don't say this. Haven't you seen that he said, 'None has the right to be worshipped but\n\nAllah for Allah's sake only.' The man replied, 'Allah and His Apostle know better; but by Allah, we\n\nnever saw him but helping and talking with the hypocrites.' Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) replied, 'No doubt,\n\nwhoever says. None has the right to be worshipped but Allah, and by that he wants the pleasures of\n\nAllah, then Allah will save him from Hell.\" Mahmud added, \"I told the above narration to some\n\npeople, one of whom was Abu Aiyub, the companion of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) in the battle in which he (Abu\n\nAiyub) died and Yazid bin Mu'awiya was their leader in Roman Territory. Abu Aiyub denounced the\n\nnarration and said, 'I doubt that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) ever said what you have said.' I felt that too much, and\n\nI vowed to Allah that if I remained alive in that holy battle, I would (go to Medina and) ask `Itban bin\n\nMalik if he was still living in the mosque of his people. So when he returned, I assumed Ihram for\n\nHajj or `Umra and then I proceeded on till I reached Medina. I went to Bani Salim and `Itban bin\n\nMalik, who was by then an old blind man, was leading his people in the prayer. When he finished the\n\nprayer, I greeted him and introduced myself to him and then asked him about that narration. He told"