Most of us wept and said: "O our Master, pray for us for release from the test and the examination, for indeed we cannot bear it." He said: "Which of you is the one who said within himself—when my messenger came to you to attend—'Is it anything but food and drink? And in our homes is the like of it or less than it. Would that we were left in our homes!'"

So we stood up all together on our feet and said:

"O Gate of Allah, by Allah, by Allah! Your word is the truth, and you are more knowing of who said it among us."

He said: "Its speaker is present with you, and he knows that he is the one who said it within himself."

We said: "O our Master, reveal him to us so that we may know him."

His eyes welled up with tears and he said:

Indeed, the Children of Israel—the people of Moses before you—were afflicted by a severe, great drought. The earth became arid, and the sky withheld water from them until no green thing remained but that it dried up and burned.

So the community of Moses complained of that to Moses—mighty is his might—so he said to them: "Go out into the wilderness so that we may call upon Allah, ask of Him, and seek rain from Him."