The Commander of the Faithful—mighty is his might—said to him: "O Harith of Hamdan, does someone like you say such a thing? By Him in whose hand is the soul of Muhammad, there is no one who dies and whose soul departs his body in the east of the earth or its west, its plains or its mountains, its land or its sea, its heaven or its earth, except that the Messenger of Allah—mighty is his might—witnesses him, and I witness him, and Fatimah, al-Hasan, and al-Husayn witness him. If he is among our loyalists (Awliya), we recognize him by his mark and give him glad tidings of Paradise, so he laughs and rejoices; and if he is among our enemies, we recognize him by his mark and give him tidings of the Fire, so he frowns and scowls." And he said: "O Harith of Hamdan, whoever dies sees me—whether believer or hypocrite—face to face." Then he recited to him the famous verses until their end. Al-Harith then said to him: "I bear witness that you are the Distributor of Paradise and the Fire, O my Master, Commander of the Faithful." He replied: "Yes, I am the Companion of the Elevations (al-A'raf); I say to the Fire: 'This one is mine, so leave him,' and 'This one is yours, so take him.'" The evidence for that is the saying of the Almighty: {Allah takes the souls at the time of their death, and those that do not die [He takes] during their sleep. Then He keeps those for which He has decreed death and releases the others for a specified term. Indeed in that are signs for a people who give thought} ¹ .