It was related that once upon a time, there was man called Malik bin Dinar. He was a sinful person who used to drink alcohol and was drowning in his sins. Malik had a young daughter whom he loved dearly. When he wanted to drink alcohol, however, this daughter would tip over the bottle and spill its content. When she reached two years of age, she passed away. This caused Malik great grief and sadness.
One night, Malik went to sleep after drinking alcohol and without praying. In his dream, he saw that the Day of Judgment had come and that the people had risen from their graves. They were all gathered and he was amongst them. While Malik was standing with the people, he heard some noise behind him. When he turned around, he came face to face with a huge frightening dragon (i.e. huge serpeant). The dragon’s huge mouth was wide open, as it was rushing towards him.
Very frightened from the dragon, Malik began to run. While getting away, he passed by an old man who was wearing white and who had a nice scent. Malik said, “As-salamu ^alykum” to the man and asked him for help. However, the old man was not able to help Malik. Rather, he told him to run quickly so he could escape the dragon. Malik kept on running until he was overlooking Hellfire. There, he heard a voice calling out to him, “Go back, you are not amongst its inhabitants.” This comforted Malik a little, as he backed away while continuing to run.
Still running away, the dragon was getting closer. Malik returned to the old man and asked for his protection. The old man started weeping and said, “I am weak.” He instructed Malik to run towards the mountain. Muslim children, who died young, were gathered in that mountain. The old man said, “If you have a child in that mountain, then your child will save you.”
Malik saw the mountain, which seemed majestic in its beauty, and he quickly ran towards it; desperately trying to escape the dragon. When Malik got closer to the mountain, an angel called out, “Lift the covers and open the doors.” The angel then told the children to come forward. Perhaps, one of them was a son or a daughter of this desperate man and they in turn can save him. The young children, who were as beautiful as the full moon, looked at Malik.
When the dragon got closer to Malik, the children called upon each other to hastily come forward and see if any of them knew him. Group by group, the children passed by Malik until finally his daughter, who had died when she was young, came forward and identified him. When she saw him, the daughter wept and said, “I swear by Allah, this is my father.”
She threw herself at him and with her left hand, held her father’s right hand. She then confronted the dragon by lifting her right hand in its face. That was enough to repel the dragon, which quickly turned away and fled.
She sat her father down, as she emotionally said, “Oh father” and she recited an Ayah from the Qur’an, which means, “Isn’t it time for the believers’ hearts to soften upon hearing the name of Allah and the recitation of the Qur’an; and for them to submit and obey Allah?” When Malik heard this, he started weeping.
He then asked his daughter, “You children know the Qur’an?” She replied, “We are more knowledgeable in it that you are.” He then asked her to tell him about the dragon. She said,”He represents your bad deeds. He was made stronger by your sinning and by your drinking of alcohol. He wanted to throw you into Hellfire.” Malik then asked his daughter about the old man, to which she replied, “He represents your good deeds, which were so weak that they could not out-power your bad deeds.”
Malik suddenly awoke frightened and vowing to repent to his Creator. Malik repented from his sins and he eventually became a great, pious person. He related this story to his students during a session, when they asked him how he achieved such a high level of piety.
