On the authority of Wahb bin Munabbih (may Allah be pleased with him), he said:
‘Īsā (peace be upon him) passed by a town whose inhabitants of mankind, jinn, vermin, cattle and birds had all died, so he stood looking at it for an hour, then he came to his companions and said, “These lot have died due to the punishment of Allah, and had they died another way, they would have died separately”, then he called them, “O people of the town!”
So someone responded to him, “At your service O Rūh of Allah!”
He (‘Īsā) said, “What was your crime?”
They said, “Worshipping Tāghūt and love of the world.”
He (‘Īsā) said, “So what was your worship of Tāghūt?”
They said, “Obedience to those who disobeyed Allah Most High.”
He (‘Īsā) said, “And what was your love of the world?”
They said, “Like a child’s love for their mother. We used to, if it came we would become happy, and if it went we would grieve, along with far fetched hopes, and turning away from the obedience of Allah, and entering into the anger of Allah.”
He (‘Īsā) said, “And how was your affair?”
They said, “We were one night in wellbeing and in the morning we ended up in the Hāwiyah (i.e. Hell).”
So ‘Īsā said, “And what is the Hāwiyah?”
He said, “Sijjīn.”
He (‘Īsā) said, “And what is Sijjīn?”
He said, “A coal of fire like the layers of all the world, our souls are buried in it.”
He (‘Īsā) said, “And what’s up with your companions, they’re not talking?”
He said, “They can’t talk, they are bridled with bridles of fire.”
He (‘Īsā) said, “So how did you talk to me from amongst them?”
He said, “I was amongst them but I was not upon their state, and when the tribulation came, it included me with them, so I am dangling by a hair in the Hāwiyah, I do not know will I be thrown in the Fire or will I be saved.”
So ‘Īsā said, “By truth I say to you, eating barley bread, drinking plain water and sleeping in dump yards with dogs, is a lot if you have wellbeing in the world and the Hereafter.”
Al Hilyah by Abū Nu’aym