Sahl Ibn Abdullah once said, “I was a child of three years, and I would stay awake at night looking at my uncle, Muhammed bin Sawwaar, praying. So he said to me one day, “Why don’t you remember Allah, the One who created you?”

So I asked, “And how do I remember Him?”

He replied, “Say, three times in your heart without moving your tongue: Allah is with me, Allah is watching over me, Allah is a witness over me.”

I then said this number of nights until I became accustomed to this. He then said to me, “Say it eleven times every night.”

So I said it, and I felt the sweetness of this statement in my heart.

A year on from this, my uncle said to me, “Memories and safeguard what I have taught you, and act according to it up until you enter your grave.”

So I continued acting upon these words for years and I would find the sweetness of it in my privacy.

He then said, “O Sahl, whomsoever Allah is with, and He watches him and is a witness over him – do you think such a person should disobey Allah? Beware of disobeying Allah.”

After this, I advanced to school and memorized the Qur’aan when I was only six or seven years old. I would then fast all the time, my daily sustenance was bread made from barley and thereafter I would wake during the night in order to pray.