The three men in the cave

The Prophet relates that three of his followers were travelling when rain overtook them and they took shelter in a cave; a rock then sealed the mouth of the cave until they were trapped inside ^{1 2}.

Each man looked back on a righteous deed he had done: one had fed a poor man, another had kept himself from unlawful relations in his youth, and the third had honoured his parents and carried them on his shoulders. Each called upon his Lord by that deed, and with every supplication the rock moved a little, until it opened fully and they walked out ^{1 2}.

The hadith says God then sent them three angels — the angel of mercy, the angel of punishment and the angel of death — to test them. The angel of mercy wept for them, the angel of punishment rejoiced at the righteous deeds he saw, and the angel of death remained unmoved, neither rejoicing nor grieving ^{1 2}.

This report is among the soundest texts on angels meeting human beings in the two Sahihs, and it stands in the Book of Heart-Softening (al-Riqaq); readers of this browser may take it as a Prophetic testimony that supplication is answered through righteous action ^{1 2}.