had heard the full story, he gave their she-camel back and set out in search of his benefactor himself. When he arrived at the cave where Ibn JudꜤān had gone missing, he bravely went inside.

It was extremely dark inside and the ground was unstable, but he pressed onwards. Suddenly, he heard someone barely breathing, and after looking around in the dark, he realised it was a human. He called out to Ibn JudꜤān, who was still alive. The neighbour helped him out of the cave and brought him home.

When they arrived home, he asked, “O Ibn JudꜤān! You were trapped in the cave for around a week. How did you survive so long without food or drink?”

Ibn JudꜤān replied:

It was extremely dark and I could not see anything, but a bowl of milk would appear by my mouth every day. I would drink it, and I survived because of this. The only exception is, for the last 2 days, the bowl of milk stopped coming.

The neighbour then explained:

I have understood. You gifted me a she-camel, but your sons took it back from me two days ago. We poor people would drink the milk produced from the camel gifted by you, and you were being recompensed for it in the cave.

O those who love Allah’s Messenger! The good deeds we do are never forgotten and they benefit us at times of hardship, so we should continue performing them.

Protection of one’s family and offspring

There are many other worldly benefits of good deeds. For example:

*    Good deeds protect us against enemies.