Abū Qilābah narrated from Anas, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ declared, “The most proficient reciter in my community is Ubayy.” (1)

Abū Saʿīd reported that Ubayy once asked, “O Messenger of Allah ﷺ, what reward does fever bring?” He replied, “It causes good deeds to flow upon the one who suffers it.” Ubayy then supplicated, “O Allah, I ask You for a fever that will not keep me from setting out in Your cause.” From that evening on, Ubayy never spent a night without experiencing fever. (2)

I say: The continual fever altered his temperament slightly; for that reason Zur ibn Hubaysh used to remark, “Ubayy had a certain sternness about him.”

Abū Naḍrah al-ʿAbdī related: A man among us named Jābir—or perhaps Juwaybir—said, “I sought a favor from ʿUmar, and beside him stood a man dressed in white with white hair. He said, ‘This worldly life provides the means and provisions that carry us to the Hereafter, and within it are the deeds for which we shall be repaid in the Hereafter.’ I asked, ‘Who is this, O Commander of the Believers?’ He replied, ‘This is the leader of the Muslims: Ubayy ibn Kaʿb.’” (3)

Mughīrah ibn Muslim narrated from al-Rabīʿ, from Anas, from Abū al-ʿĀliyah, that a man once said to Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, “Advise me.” He answered, “Take the Book of Allah as your guide, and be content with it as your judge and arbiter.”