There was once a man who fell in with Jesus on his travels. Going on together for a time, they reached a stream, where they sat down to have a bite of breakfast. They had three loaves between them, giving them one apiece, which they consumed, and one left over. Jesus rose and went over to the stream to drink. When he returned he found the remaining loaf gone. Asking who had taken it, he was told: “I do not know.”
So they went on, until they spied a doe with two fawns. Jesus called for one of the fawns and it came, offering itself to be slain. Jesus roasted the slaughtered beast and presented it for the two of them to eat. After they partaken of it, Jesus called out to the consumed fawn, “In the Name of the Lord, arise!” And it rose up, whole, and walked away. Then Jesus turned to the other man and cried: “In the Name of the Lord who has shown you this sign, I ask you who has taken that loaf?” Again the man replied, “I do not know.”
They walked on, until they came to a river. Jesus took the man’s hand and they both set out walking on the water across the river. When they reached the other side, again Jesus asked “In the Name of the Lord who has shown you this sign, I ask you who has taken that loaf?” Again the man replied, “I do not know.”
Proceeding on, they arrived at a desert. Jesus scooped up a handful of earth and cried: “By God’s command become gold!” And it turned to gold, which Jesus divided into three parts, saying this third is mine, this one yours and the remainder for the one who took the loaf. Straightaway, the man spoke up, telling him, “I took it!” Thereupon Jesus gave him the whole lot and left him.
As the man proceeded through the wilderness, he met two men, who, on discovering the gold with him, sought to kill him for it, but he pleaded for them to share it three ways, thereupon they agreed, sending one of their number on to a nearby village to bring food. The one going set to thinking along the way, “Why should I share the gold with the others? I shall simply poison this food and kill them off.” And so he put poison in the food.
In the meantime, the other two were thinking, “Why should we give up a third to him, when we can keep it for ourselves?” So they agreed to kill him, when he returned. Once they had done that, they ate the poisoned food and promptly died themselves, leaving the gold abandoned in the desert.
Jesus came by and saw what had taken place. He turned to those who were with them and said: “This is the way of the world. Beware!”
—Abu Hâmed Ghazâli, Ehya al-‘olum adin
