I shall put some poison into the food, and kill them.

I shall put some poison into the food, and kill them.” So, he poisoned the food. The other two said, “Why should we give a third of this wealth to him. When he comes back, let us kill him, and divide the rest of the wealth between us.” When he returned, they attacked him and killed him. Then they ate the food and died. The wealth remained in the desert with the three dead men beside it. Jesus passed them and saw the situation.

He said to his disciples, “This is the world, so beware of it!”[^3] It is reported that Al-Sadiq Ja‘far ibn Muhammad (‘a) reported that Jesus the son of Mary (‘a) turned to some needs, and three of his companions were with him. He passed by three golden bricks on the road. Jesus (‘a) said to his companions, “Verily, these kill people.” Then he went. One of them said, “I have a need.” So, he returned. Then another of them said, “I have a need.” So, he returned.

Then the other one said, “I have a need.” So, he returned. All three persons gathered around the gold. Two of them said to the other, “Buy some food for us.” He went to buy food for them; then he put some poison in it to kill them, so that he would not have to share the gold with them. And the other two said, “When he comes we will kill him so that we do not have to share the gold with him.” So, when he came, they stood up to him and killed him. Then they ate the food. So, they died.

Then Jesus (‘a) returned to them while they were lifeless around [the gold]. He lent life to them by the permission of Allah, may His remembrance be exalted, and said, “Did I not tell you that this kills people?!”[^4] Jabir ibn ‘Abdullah al-Ansari said, “‘Ali (‘a) prayed with us as a leader at Buratha after his coming from fighting with Shurat [al-Khawarij] and we were about one hundred thousand men. Then a Christian came down from his monastery and said, ‘Who is the chief of this army?

We said, ‘He is.’ He came to him, greeted to him and said, ‘O my master, you are a prophet?’ He said, ‘No, my master, the Prophet died.’ He said, ‘Are you the executor of the prophet?’ He said, ‘Yes. Why did you ask about this?’ He said, ‘I established this monastery here for the sake of this place, Buratha. I read the revealed books and found that no one prays at this place with this community but a prophet or the executer of a prophet.

I came to become a Muslim.’ Then he accepted Islam, and with us he left for Kufa.