Hikayat, volume one, a book published by Maktaba-tul-Madinah, the publishing department of Dawat-e-Islami:

Sayyiduna Khalid Bin Ayyub رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَلَيْه states: There was a worshipper from Bani Israeel who worshipped Allah Almighty on the peak of a mountain for 60 years. One night, he had a dream in which he heard a caller saying, ‘So-and-so cobbler is a greater worshipper than you and his rank is greater than yours.’ When he woke up in the morning, he began to ponder over the dream and said to himself, ‘It is only a dream, it does not have any significance.’ Thus, he did not give any importance to the dream. After some time, it was said to him in a dream again, ‘So-and-so cobbler is more superior than you,’ but he did not give any importance to the dream again. He then saw the same dream for the third time.

After the superiority of the cobbler was mentioned to him in a dream several times, he descended the mountain and went to the cobbler. When the cobbler saw him, he left his work, stood respectfully and began to kiss that worshipper’s hand with great love. He then said, ‘Respected man! What has forced you to leave your place of worship?’

The worshipper replied, ‘I have come here because of you; I was told that your rank in the court of Allah Almighty is greater than mine, which is why I have come to visit you. Tell me which action of yours has caused you to achieve a high rank in the court of Allah Almighty?’ The cobbler remained silent, as though he was hesitant to mention his action. He then said, ‘I have no special action that I do, however, there is one thing: I remain busy in earning Halal sustenance for the entire day and I save myself from Haraam sustenance, and then I give away half of the wealth which Allah Almighty grants me throughout the day as charity, and I spend the other half on my family. The second action is that I keep fasts in abundance; besides this, there is nothing else that I possess which could be a cause of this superiority.’

Hearing this, the worshipper left the righteous cobbler and busied