ʿAbbād ibn al-ʿAwwām narrated—through Hārūn ibn ʿAntra, from his father—who said: “I entered upon ʿAlī in al-Khurnaq, and he was wearing a threadbare wool cloak. I said, ‘Commander of the Faithful, Allah has allotted you and your household a share of this wealth, yet you treat yourself like this!’ He replied, ‘By Allah, I do not withhold anything from you. It is nothing but my cloak, which I have brought from my own house.’

It is also related that ʿAlī bought a shirt for four dirhams, put it on, and then cut off from the sleeves whatever extended past his fingertips.

Jurmuz said: “I saw ʿAlī coming out of the palace wearing a waist-wrap that reached halfway down his shins and a rolled-up cloak. He carried a staff with which he walked through the markets, urging the people to fear Allah and trade honorably, saying, ‘Give full measure and weight, and do not puff up the meat.’

Al-Ḥasan ibn Ṣāliḥ ibn Ḥayy reported: When ascetics were mentioned in the presence of ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz (may Allah have mercy on him), he said, ‘The most ascetic of people regarding this world is ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib.’

A man related that he saw ʿAlī riding a donkey with both legs hanging on one side; then ʿAlī said, ‘I am the one who has humbled the world.’

Hushaym narrated—through Ismāʿīl ibn Sālim, from ʿAmmār al-Ḥaḍramī, from Abū ʿAmr Zādhān—that a man told ʿAlī a report. ʿAlī said, ‘I think you have lied to me.’ The man answered, ‘I have not.’ ʿAlī replied, ‘If you are lying, I shall supplicate against you.’ The man said, ‘Go ahead.’ So ʿAlī supplicated, and the man had not left before he was struck blind.

ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib narrated—through Abū al-Bakhtarī, from ʿAlī—who said: ‘And delay it until the heat has subsided.’