—the Exalted—says in His Book: “Surely the remembrance of Allah is greater.” (al-ʿAnkabūt (1): 45)
Nuʿaym ibn Ḥammād narrated: Ibn al-Mubārak told us; Muḥammad ibn Muṭarrif told us; Abū Ḥāzim, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Saʿīd ibn Yarbuʿ, from Mālik al-Dār, who said:
ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him) once took four hundred dinars and said to a servant, “Take these to Abū ʿUbaydah; then stay in the house for a while and see what he does.”
The servant went and said, “The Commander of the Believers says to you, ‘Accept this.’”
Abū ʿUbaydah replied, “May Allah reward him and have mercy on him.”
Then he said, “Come here, girl. Take these seven dinars to so-and-so and these five to so-and-so,” until he had distributed everything.
The servant returned to ʿUmar and informed him. ʿUmar had prepared an equal sum for Muʿādh ibn Jabal and sent the servant off with it.
Muʿādh said, “May Allah reward him. Girl, take such-and-such to the house of so-and-so, and such-and-such to the house of so-and-so.”
Muʿādh’s wife looked out and said, “And we—by Allah—are in need; so give us something!”
Only two dinars were left in the cloth, so he tossed them (2) to her.
The servant went back and informed ʿUmar, who was delighted and said, “They are brothers, one of another.” (3)
I read to Isḥāq ibn Abī Bakr; Yūsuf al-Ḥāfiẓ informed you; Abū al-Makārim al-Labbān reported to us; Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥaddād; Abū Nuʿaym; Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī; Ibn Qutaybah (ḥ).
Likewise, Abū al-Maʿālī al-Ghar-rāfī informed us; al-Fatḥ ibn ʿAbd Allāh informed us; al-Urmawī, Ibn al-Dāyah, and al-Ṭarāʾifī said:
Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad informed us; ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us; Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad narrated to us; they said:
Yazīd ibn Mawhib narrated to us,