his mother, whereupon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to me, “Did you trade insults with so-and-so?”
I replied, “Yes.”
He asked, “And you mentioned his mother?”
I said, “Whenever men abuse one another, they speak of each other’s fathers and mothers.”
He then said, “You are a man in whom there still remains something of al-jāhiliyyah (pre-Islamic ignorance),” and he went on relating the hadith until he said: “They are your brothers, whom Allah has placed under your authority. So whoever has his brother beneath his hand, let him feed him from the food he himself eats, clothe him with what he himself wears, and do not burden him with more than he can bear.” (1)

Qatādah—via Abū Qilābah, from Abū Asmāʾ—reported that he entered upon Abū Dharr at al-Rabadha and found with him a black woman, dishevelled, showing no trace of perfume or adornment. Abū Dharr said, “Do you not see what you are advising me? You tell me to go to Iraq, but the moment I arrive they will smother me with their worldly goods. Yet my intimate friend entrusted me with this counsel: ‘Ahead of the bridge over Hell there lies a path that is slick and slippery.’ For us to reach it while still able to cast off our loads is more likely to save us than to reach it weighed down.” (2)

Abū Hilāl—via Qatādah, from Saʿīd ibn Abī al-Ḥasan—reported that Abū Dharr’s stipend was four thousand. Whenever he received it, he would summon his servant, ask him what would suffice him for the year, and purchase that for him; then he would buy copper coins with whatever remained. He used to say, “There is no container of gold or silver that is sealed up except that it will blaze against its owner.” (3)