Jihadul Nafs

al-Hasan al-Basri (Rahimahullaahu ta'ala) narrated:“There was a fornicating woman who had exceeded the people of her era in beauty, and would not let any man sleep with her unless he paid her one hundred dinars. One day, a man saw her and was attracted to her, so he went and worked until he earned the one hundred dinars and came to her. She told him: “Pay it to the man at the door so that he may count it and weigh it.” When he did this, she told him to enter. She had a luxurious home and a bed made of gold. She told him: “Come to me.” When he was about to have intercourse with her, he suddenly remembered his standing before Allah on the Day of Resurrection, so it was as if he was struck with lightning and his desire was put out.He said to her: “Allow me to leave you, and you can keep the money.”She replied: “How can you do this now, when you saw me and was attracted to me, and went and worked hard to collect the one hundred dinars, and when you are finally with me, you do what you did?”He said: “By Allah, I did not do this out of anything except for the fear of Allah, and the thought of my standing between His Hands.”She said: “If you are truthful in what you say, then I want to marry nobody except you!”He told her: “Let me leave.”She said: “No, not unless you promise me that you will marry me!”He said: “I cannot do anything until I leave first.”She then said to him: “You must promise Allah that if I come to you where you live, then you will marry me!”He said: “It might be so. We will see.”So, he put on his clothes, left her, and travelled back to his land. She later travelled to his land with all that she owned - regretting the circumstances under which they had met each other - until she arrived and asked about him. When she arrived at his home, it was said to him: “The queen herself has arrived and asked about you!” When he saw her, he was in such a state of shock that he collapsed and died.His body fell into her arms, so she said: “As for him, then I have missed out on the chance to be with him. Does he have any close relatives?” It was said to her: “Yes, his brother, but he is a poor man.” So, she said to him: “I will marry you out of my love for your dead brother.”She married him and bore for him seven righteous sons.”


[‘at-Tawwabin’ by Ibn Qudamah al-Maqdisi; p. 41-42]