Hasan of Basra and the Fire-worshiper

Hasan had a neighbor named Simeon who was a fire-worshiper. Simeon fell ill and was at death’s door. Friends begged Hasan to visit him; he called, to find him in bed, blackened with fire and smoke.

“Fear God,” Hasan counseled him. “You have passed all your life amid fire and smoke. Accept Islam, that God may have mercy on you.”

“Three things hold me back from becoming a Muslim,” the fire-worshiper replied. “The first is, that you speak ill of the world, yet night and day you pur-sue worldly things. Secondly, you say that death is a fact to be faced, yet you make no preparation for death. In the third place, you say that God’s face shall be seen, yet today you do everything contrary to His good pleasure.”

“This is the token of those who know truly,” Hasan commented. “Now if believers act as you describe, what have you to say? They acknowledge the unity of God; whereas you have spent your life in the worship of fire. You who have worshiped fire for seventy years, and I who have never worshiped fire — we are both carried off to Hell. Hell will consume you and me. God will pay no regard to you; but if God so wills, the fire will not dare so much as to burn one hair of my body. For fire is a thing created by God; and the creature is subject to the Creator’s command. Come now, you who have wor-shipped fire for seventy years; let us both put our hands into the fire, then you will see with your own eyes the impotence of fire and the omnipotence of God.”

So saying, Hasan thrust his hand into the fire and held it there. Not a particle of his body was affected or burnt. When Simeon saw this he was amazed. The dawn of true knowledge began to break.

“For seventy years I have worshiped fire,” he groaned. “Now only a breath or two remains to me. What am I to do?”

“Become a Muslim,” was Hasan’s reply.