Mālik relates in the Muwatta, through Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd:

Abū al-Dardāʾ wrote to Salman, saying, “Come to the Sacred Land.”

Salman replied, “The land does not sanctify anyone; it is a person’s deeds that sanctify him. I have also heard that you have been appointed as a physician. If you truly heal, then good for you; but if you are only posing as one, beware lest you kill a soul and thereby enter the Fire.”

Because of this, whenever Abū al-Dardāʾ judged between two disputants and they began to walk away, he would look after them and say, “By Allah, I am only an amateur physician—come back and present your case to me once more.” (1)

Abū ʿUbaydah ibn Maʿn narrated from al-Aʿmash, from Abū al-Bukhtarī:

Ashʿath ibn Qays and Jarīr ibn ʿAbd Allāh once entered upon Salman in a small hut. They greeted him and exchanged salutations, then asked, “Are you a companion of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him?”

He replied, “I do not know.”

They were unsettled, so he added, “His true companion is the one who enters Paradise with him.”

They said, “We have come from Abū al-Dardāʾ.”

He asked, “Where is his gift?”

They answered, “We have brought no gift.”

He said, “Fear Allah and discharge the trust; no one has ever come to me from him without a gift.”

They said, “Please do not press us on this. We have wealth—name your terms.”

He replied, “All I want is the gift.”

They swore, “By Allah, he sent nothing with us except that he said, ‘Among you is a man with whom the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, when alone, desired no other company. When you reach him, convey my greetings.’”

Salman said, “What gift could I have wanted from you other than this? And what gift could possibly be better?” (2)

Wakīʿ transmitted from al-Aʿmash, from Sulaymān ibn Maysarah and al-Mughirah ibn Shibl, from Ṭāriq ibn Shihāb, from Salman, who said:

“When night falls, people divide into three …”