'Utbah bin Ghazwan, the governor of Basrah, delivered a Khutbah. He praised Allah, glorified Him, then said: "Amma b'adu, verily, the world has been given the news of its end and is running to meet its end swiftly. Nothing is left out of it but a very little amount. Similar to the remainder in a dish whose owner is collecting it to drink; and you are going to move to an abode which knows no end, and you should proceed there with the good before you, for we have been informed (by the Prophet (PBUH)) that a stone would be thrown at one side of the Hell and it would travel down for seventy years but would not reach its bottom. By Allah, it will be filled (with men and jinn). Do you find it strange? We have been informed (i.e., by the Prophet (PBUH)) that the distance between two shutters of the gate of Jannah is forty years (distance). And a day would come when it would be fully packed; I was the seventh amongst the seven who had been with Messenger of Allah (PBUH), and we had nothing to eat but the leaves of the tree until the sides of our mouth were injured. We found a sheet which we tore into two and divided between myself and Sa'd bin Malik. I made the lower garment with half of it and so did Sa'd. Today, there is none amongst us who has not become the governor of a city, and I seek refuge with Allah that I should consider myself great while I am insignificant to Allah."

[Muslim].

We travelled all night and the following day till the midday sun offered little shade, the road being empty with no one passing on it. Seeing a tall, shady rock protected from the sun's rays we alighted beside it, and when I had smoothed a place with my hands for him to sleep and spread a skin garment over him, I said, "Sleep, messenger of God, and I shall keep watch around you." He went to sleep, and when I went out to keep watch around him, I saw a shepherd approaching. I asked if his sheep had any milk and he replied that they had, so I asked if he would draw some milk and he agreed, and drew a cupful into a wooden cup. I had a small skin vessel I carried for the Prophet from which he took water both for drinking and for performing ablution, so I went to the Prophet, but as I did not like to waken him, I waited for him till he awoke. I then poured some water on the milk till the bottom of it was cooled, and said, "Drink, messenger of God." When he had drunk an amount which made me feel pleased, he said, "Is it not time to be moving?" and I agreed that it was; so, we moved on after the sun had passed the meridian. Suraqa b. Malik had followed us up and I said, "We have been overtaken, messenger of God." He replied, "Do not grieve; God is with us." The Prophet then prayed that he might be hindered and his horse sank with him up to its belly in hard ground. He said, "I see that you two have prayed that I might be hindered; now pray for me, for God is on your side, that I may turn away the search from you." The Prophet prayed for him, and when he got free, he began to say whenever he met anyone, "You have been saved trouble, for there is no one here; and he met no one without turning him back. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

"My maternal uncle Abu Burdah Ibn Niyar passed by me and he had a flag with him. I said: 'Where are you going ?' He said: 'the Messenger of Allah (saws) dispatched me to a man who married a woman his father had married to: that I should bring him his head."