Sahih Muslim 3005 preserves two successive attempts by a tyrannical king to kill the believing boy after the boy refused to abandon his faith. First, men were ordered to take him to the top of a mountain and throw him down if he would not renounce his religion. The boy prayed that Allah would suffice him against them however He willed; the mountain shook, his captors fell, and he returned walking to the king. The king then sent him by boat into the middle of the sea with the same demand. The boy prayed again, the boat overturned, his captors drowned, and he again returned safely, telling the king that Allah had saved him.
The first plan was designed to make his death look final and unavoidable. The king handed the boy to a group of courtiers and ordered them to take him to a high mountain. At the summit they were to demand that he renounce his religion; if he refused, they were to throw him down.
The boy went with them until they reached the mountain. At the moment when his captors intended to carry out the order, he turned to Allah and prayed that Allah would suffice him against them in whatever way He willed. Sahih Muslim records that the mountain shook. The men who had taken him there fell, while the boy remained safe.
Then came a striking part of the story: the boy did not disappear or flee to some unknown place. He walked back to the king.
The king saw him and asked what had happened to the men sent with him. The boy answered plainly that Allah had saved him from them. The failed execution did not soften the king. Instead, he prepared a second method.
This time another group was ordered to take the boy in a small boat into the middle of the sea. Again the demand was that he abandon his religion; if he refused, they were to throw him into the water.
Once more the boy turned to Allah with the same essential supplication, asking Him to suffice him against what they intended. Sahih Muslim states that the boat overturned, the men sent to kill him drowned, and the boy was saved. Jami‘ al-Tirmidhi preserves the same mountain-and-sea sequence in a parallel report, describing the men falling from the mountain and later being drowned at sea while Allah saved the boy.
And once again, the boy returned to the king. When asked what had happened to his companions, he gave the same answer in substance: Allah had saved him from them.
These two rescues form one focused stage of the longer People of the Ditch narrative. The earlier healing episode and the later public execution by arrow belong to other stages and should not be merged into this event. Here the central pattern is clear: coercion, refusal to abandon faith, supplication, two attempted executions, and two extraordinary deliverances. The boy’s repeated return to the king makes the scene especially powerful, because each failed attempt became a direct proof that the king’s power was limited and that rescue came from Allah alone.
Conclusion
This is a high-confidence divine-salvation event grounded in a sahih prophetic report. The king tried first to have the believing boy thrown from a mountain and then drowned at sea, but after the boy appealed to Allah, both attempts failed and he returned safely each time. His simple answer to the king—Allah had saved him—captures the meaning of the episode: human coercion reached its limit, while steadfast faith and divine protection remained beyond the king’s control.