Al-Qushayri preserves a report in which Salim al-Maghribi asks Dhu al-Nun al-Misri, may Allah have mercy on him, what caused his repentance. Dhu al-Nun recalls traveling from Egypt toward some villages, sleeping in the desert, and waking to see a blind lark fall from its nest. He then reports that the earth split and two small vessels appeared, one containing sesame and the other water. Seeing the bird eat and drink became, in the story, the moment that moved him to repentance.
Al-Qushayri preserves the story as an answer to a direct question about Dhu al-Nun al-Misri, may Allah have mercy on him. Salim al-Maghribi asked what had caused his repentance. Dhu al-Nun replied by taking him back to an earlier journey, when he had set out from Egypt toward some villages and was crossing a desert region. The account begins with an ordinary journey before turning to the scene that Dhu al-Nun remembered as a spiritual turning point.
Dhu al-Nun said that he fell asleep during the journey. When he awoke, he saw a blind lark fall from its nest onto the ground. The bird was unable to see and had landed in the open desert away from the safety of its nest. The report pauses on this helpless condition before describing what happened next, making the bird's need for food and water the center of the scene.
He then reported that the earth split and two small vessels appeared. One vessel was described as gold and the other as silver. In one was sesame and in the other was water. The blind lark began to eat the sesame and drink the water. The early wording checked in al-Qushayri says water, and al-Dhahabi's later preservation in Siyar A'lam al-Nubala also gives water; later retellings that say rose water should not replace this earlier wording.
For Dhu al-Nun, the decisive part was what the scene meant to him. After seeing provision reach a blind creature in the desert, he said in substance that this was enough for him and that he had repented. The report then describes him as remaining at the door until Allah accepted him. The marvel in the story therefore leads directly to its main theme: awakening, recognition of divine provision, repentance, and steadfast return to Allah.
Al-Dhahabi later preserved the same basic account in his biography of Dhu al-Nun, showing how firmly the story entered the classical biographical tradition. The enduring focus is not the material of the vessels, but Dhu al-Nun's response to what he witnessed. A helpless bird receives food and water in the desert, and that sight becomes, in the transmitted story, the moment that turns him toward repentance and a new life of devotion.
Dhu al-Nun said that he fell asleep during the journey. When he awoke, he saw a blind lark fall from its nest onto the ground. The bird was unable to see and had landed in the open desert away from the safety of its nest. The report pauses on this helpless condition before describing what happened next, making the bird's need for food and water the center of the scene.
He then reported that the earth split and two small vessels appeared. One vessel was described as gold and the other as silver. In one was sesame and in the other was water. The blind lark began to eat the sesame and drink the water. The early wording checked in al-Qushayri says water, and al-Dhahabi's later preservation in Siyar A'lam al-Nubala also gives water; later retellings that say rose water should not replace this earlier wording.
For Dhu al-Nun, the decisive part was what the scene meant to him. After seeing provision reach a blind creature in the desert, he said in substance that this was enough for him and that he had repented. The report then describes him as remaining at the door until Allah accepted him. The marvel in the story therefore leads directly to its main theme: awakening, recognition of divine provision, repentance, and steadfast return to Allah.
Al-Dhahabi later preserved the same basic account in his biography of Dhu al-Nun, showing how firmly the story entered the classical biographical tradition. The enduring focus is not the material of the vessels, but Dhu al-Nun's response to what he witnessed. A helpless bird receives food and water in the desert, and that sight becomes, in the transmitted story, the moment that turns him toward repentance and a new life of devotion.
Conclusion
The story closes with Dhu al-Nun al-Misri seeing unexpected provision reach a blind bird in the desert and taking that scene as enough to turn toward repentance and steadfast return to Allah.
Sources
Al-Qushayri, al-Risala al-Qushayriyya, vol. 1, pp. 39–40: Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami <- Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Shadhan <- Yusuf ibn al-Husayn, who says he attended Dhu al-Nun's gathering when Salim al-Maghribi asked the cause of his repentance; the report gives the desert, blind lark, gold and silver vessels, sesame and water, and Dhu al-Nun's statement that he repented and remained at the door until Allah accepted him.
Al-Dhahabi, Siyar A'lam al-Nubala, vol. 11, pp. 533–534, biography of Dhu al-Nun al-Misri: the repentance story is preserved from Yusuf ibn al-Husayn with sesame and water.
Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Tarikh Baghdad, biography of Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Aziz ibn Shadhan, vol. 3 p. 182 in the cited edition: al-Idrisi says 'laysa fi al-riwaya bi-dhak.' Ibn Hajar, Lisan al-Mizan, biography 7015, preserves still stronger criticism and al-Hakim's objection.
Al-Qushayri, al-Risala al-Qushayriyya, vol. 1 p. 40, immediately after the Dhu al-Nun biography: 'Tawbat al-awamm takunu min al-dhunub, wa tawbat al-khawass takunu min al-ghafla.'