Shaikh Kulaini narrates on the authority of Imam Ali Zainul Aabedeen (a.s.) that a person alongwith his wife and children was travelling in a boat when suddenly it sank. Everyone else was drowned except the man’s wife, who fell on a log and was pushed away by the waves to the shores of a barren island. On that island there lived an evil thief who had left no sin uncommitted. When he saw that woman he asked her whether she was a human or a genii. She replied that she was very much a human, and that her boat had wrecked. The man did not say anything but proceeded towards, and embraced her with the intention of cohabiting. He felt the woman to be trembling and in a troubled mood. He asked her the reason for her fright.
She pointed towards the sky and say, “I fear Allah.” The evil man said, “Have you ever done this act”? She replied, “By Allah! I have never committed adultery.” The evil man said, “When you have never committed an indecent act, why do you fear? Secondly it is I who am forcing you for adultery without your consent. Then too you fear Allah. In fact it is I who should fear Him more, for all through my life I have sinned.” Saying this the evil man stepped back and returned home without uttering a word. He thought about the sins he had committed all through his life and felt ashamed, he left his home on way to repentance.
On the way he met a hermit and they both became friends. The hermit told the man, “It has become too hot, please pray to Allah to send a cloud to shelter us from the heat of the blazing sun.” The man replied, “All through my life I have never committed a good act, and hence I do not have the courage to ask from the Almighty.” The hermit replied, “If this is so, I shall pray and you say ‘Ameen’.”
They did so, and a cloud appeared and gave shelter on their heads, until they reached a place where they had to part because their ways were different. They both bade farewell to one another, the hermit his way and the man his way. To the astonishment of the hermit, the cloud that was sheltering them went alongwith the man.
Seeing this, the hermit went to the man and said, “Verily you are better than me, for your wish was granted while mine was refused. Please tell me as to which good act you have committed whose effect is such?” The man related the whole incident about the woman to the hermit. The hermit heard it and said, “Your fear of Allah made you give up that particular sin and repent sincerely upon all past ones, hence Allah forgave all your sins. Now in future avoid sinning, and always remain steadfast on the right path and never go astray.”