—on earth even fifty people who fear what you fear?"

He then said, "Thirty? Twenty? Ten? Five?"

Then he said, "Three?" All the while he kept repeating, "May your mother be bereaved of you! By Him in whose Hand is my soul, no servant ever feels secure about his faith except that it is stripped from him or wrenched away so that he loses it. By Him in whose Hand is my soul, faith is nothing but a garment: a person puts it on at one time and sets it aside at another."

Al-Waqidi, Abu Mus-hir, and Ibn Numayr stated: Abu al-Dardaʾ d. 32 AH. (1)

Khalid ibn Maʿdan said: he died in 31 AH. (2)

This is incorrect, for al-Thawri transmitted from al-Aʿmash, from ʿUmara ibn ʿUmayr, from Hurayth ibn Zuhayr, who said:

When the death notice—that is, of Ibn Masʿud—reached Abu al-Dardaʾ, he exclaimed, "Indeed, he has left no one after him who is his equal!"

ʿAbd Allah passed away in 32 AH.

Ismaʿil ibn ʿUbayd Allah narrated from Abu ʿUbayd Allah al-Ashʿari: "Abu al-Dardaʾ died before the assassination of ʿUthman—may Allah be pleased with him." (3)

It was also said that the circle in which Abu al-Dardaʾ taught Qur’an recitation numbered more than one thousand men; every ten had an instructor, and Abu al-Dardaʾ would walk among them standing. When a man among them mastered his portion, he would move to Abu al-Dardaʾ—that is, to recite it before him.

Abu al-Dardaʾ said: "Whoever makes frequent remembrance of death finds his joy diminished and his envy curtailed."