—anyone whose recitation of Allah’s Book was more precise than his, nor anyone more learned, nor anyone who dealt with people more tactfully than he.

I accompanied Ṭalḥah, and I never saw anyone more lavish in giving great gifts without being asked than he.

I accompanied Muʿāwiyah, and I never saw anyone more forbearing than he.

I accompanied ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, and I never saw a man whose bearing—­or, he said, whose brilliance—was clearer, nor a companion more gracious to those who sat with him.

I accompanied al-Mughīrah; if a city had eight gates and no one could leave by any of them except through stratagem, he would still find his way out through every single gate. (1)

Mūsā ibn ʿUlayy related: My father told us; he said that Abū Qays, the freedman of ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, told him:

ʿAmr used to fast continuously, and he rarely ate any supper at the beginning of the night. I heard him say: “I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, ‘The distinction between our fast and the fast of the People of the Book is the pre-dawn meal (suḥūr).’” (2)

Ibn ʿUyaynah narrated: ʿAmr told us; a freedman of ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ informed me that ʿAmr had one million stakes set in the trellising of al-Wahṭ—an orchard in Ṭāʾif—each stake costing one dirham. (3)

Ibn ʿUyaynah also said that ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ used to say: “Intelligence is not merely to know good from evil; it is to recognize the better of two evils.” (4)

Abū Hilāl, from Qatādah, said:

When ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ was dying, he said, “Weigh my wealth.” They weighed it and found it to be fifty-two mudd. He said, “Who will take it, with everything it contains? If only it were dung!”

He added: A mudd equals sixteen uqiyyah, and an uqiyyah equals two makkūkān.

Ashʿath, from al-Ḥasan, said:

When ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ was at the point of death, he looked at—