Hazrat Abu Qilaba (may Allah have mercy on him) was an eminent Tabi'i and a great scholar of Hadith. He was a student of Hazrat Anas (may Allah be pleased with him). He lived in Basra and was an extremely patient and grateful person of his time. The pages of history record an incident of his patience and gratitude, which is highly instructive and exemplary: Abdullah bin Muhammad relates: "I was stationed in a coastal area of Egypt as part of a military expedition. Once, I went out to the seashore and spotted a tent in an open field. Inside the tent, I saw a person who was physically disabled in his hands and feet, hard of hearing, and suffering from weak eyesight. None of his bodily organs was of any use except his tongue, which was sound, and with it, he was saying: 'O Allah! Inspire me to praise You with a praise that suffices as gratitude for the blessings You have bestowed upon me, and prefer me greatly over many of those You have created.' Abdullah says: "It crossed my mind that I should go and ask this gentleman about this supplication. So, I approached him, greeted him with Salaam, and inquired, 'I heard you making this supplication (whereas your condition is such that you are disabled in your hands and feet, hard of hearing, and have weak eyesight). For which blessing of Allah are you praising Him, and what excellence have you attained for which you wish to express gratitude?' The gentleman replied, 'What do you know about how my Lord has dealt with me? If He were to send down fire from the sky to incinerate me, command the mountains to crush me, order the seas to drown me, or command the earth to swallow me up, what could I do? I possess a great blessing from Allah, which is this tongue of mine; I cannot even thank Him for it as it rightfully deserves. You see my condition; I cannot do any of my work myself. I have a son who takes care of me at the time of prayer; he helps me perform ablution and arranges my food and drink. He has been missing for three days. If you could search for him, it would be a great kindness.' I said, 'What greater fortune and bliss could there be than serving a person like you?' Saying this, I set out in search of the boy. I had gone only a short distance when I found the boy's corpse lying amidst the sand dunes, torn apart and killed by a wild beast. I recited 'Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un' and thought to myself, 'How do I go and tell this boy's father?' Ultimately, I went back, and after mentioning the patience of Hazrat Ayyub (peace be upon him), I informed him, 'The boy you sent me to look for has been torn apart and killed by a wild beast.' Upon hearing this horrifying news, the gentleman said, 'Praise be to Allah, Who did not create from my progeny a successor who would disobey Him and thus be punished with Hellfire.' Then he recited 'Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un', let out a deep sigh, and passed away. This became a huge dilemma for me. If I left him like this, I feared wild beasts might devour him, and if I stayed here, what could I do alone? In short, I covered his body with a sheet and sat by his bedside weeping. While I was sitting there, suddenly four men arrived and asked, 'Abdullah, what happened?' I narrated the entire story to them. They said, 'Uncover his face; perhaps we know him.' When I uncovered his face, the men fell upon him, sometimes kissing his eyes and sometimes kissing his hands, saying, 'May we be sacrificed for these eyes that always remained closed before the things forbidden by Allah! May we be sacrificed for this body that always remained prostrate even when people were asleep!' I said, 'Tell me, who is this gentleman?' They replied, 'He is Hazrat Abu Qilaba al-Jarmi, a student of Hazrat Abdullah bin Abbas. He was a person who loved Allah and His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) immensely.' We washed him, shrouded him in the clothes we had, offered his funeral prayer, and buried him. Those people left, and I also returned to my place. When I slept that night, I saw him in a dream walking in the gardens of Paradise, adorned in the attire of the dwellers of Paradise, reciting this verse: 'Peace be upon you for what you patiently endured; and how excellent is the final home!' In the dream, I asked him, 'Are you not my disabled friend?' He replied, 'Yes, I am.' I inquired, 'How did you achieve this high status and rank?' He answered, 'In the sight of Allah, there are certain ranks that cannot be reached without patience in adversity, gratitude in ease and comfort, and the fear of Allah in public and private.' Have you pondered what a patient and grateful person he was?"