Al-Imaam Muhammad bn Nasr mentioned in his Mukhtasar Qiyaamil-Layl (p. 37) the story of the great Taabi Silah bn Ash'yam, Aboo As-Sahbaa (d.35 or 75), rahimahullaah, with some lads. He said everytime Silah was going to a place of worship, he would walk by some boys playing by roadside, he would say to them:
'Tell me about a people who intend to go on a journey but play about in the afternoon and sleep heavily in the night, when would they commence the journey?'
That was the same thing he would ask the boys everytime he passed by until one day when one of the boys came back to his sense and said:
'O friends, by Allaah, this man does not intend any other people but us; we play about in the noon and sleep in the night.'
Then the boy began to follow Silah such
that he never stayed away from him until his death. Thus he became a devout scholar.
