“Ibn abu al-‘Awja’ was one of the pupils of al-Hassan al-Basriy. He deviated from the belief of Monotheism. It was said to him, ‘You have given up the religion of your friend and have come to something that has no foundation and reality.’ He replied, ‘My friend was mixing the issue. One time he would say, “It is predestination” and then he would say, “It is compulsion.” I do not know if he believes in any religion with which he can continue.’ He went to Makkah, in disobedience and in rejection of belief in performing Hajj. Scholars disliked to sit and to speak with him due to his bad mouth and filthy conscience. He went to abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), and sat next to him in the company of people like him, and said, ‘O abu ‘Abd Allah, meeting places are trusts where everyone can cough if one needs to cough. Will you allow speaking?’ He (the Imam) said, ‘You can speak.’ He said, ‘For how long you continue walking around it like farmers threshing hay under their feet, seek refuge with this stone, worship this House built with bricks and rubble, run around like runaway camels? One who thinks a little about it comes to know of this action to be founded without wisdom and thinking. Say something about it; you’re the head of this matter and its peak, your father is the origin thereof and its completion.’ Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), then said, ‘One whom Allah has made blind and has made him to go astray, he mistreats the truth and considers it tasteless; thus Satan becomes his source of authority and guardian, lord and companion, who leads to destructive places wherefrom he can never come out to safety. Through this house, Allah has asked His creatures to worship Him (acknowledge Him as their sole owner) so He may examine the quality of their obedience in their answering His call. He thus has strongly advised them to respect it with greatness and visit it. He has made it a place of His prophets and a point to face during performing salat (prayer). It is a branch of His pleasure, and it is a road and it leads to His forgiveness. It is established in perfect balance as a focal point of greatness and glory. Allah created it two thousand years before the spread of earth. He deserves more than anyone who is obeyed in what He commands and in what He prohibits and admonishes. Allah is the inventor of the spirits and forms.’”