—that any one of us is more knowledgeable than Muʿāwiyah, whether the issues be one, five, seven, or even more (1).

Abū al-Yamān related to us— Ibn Abī Maryam, from ʿAṭiyyah ibn Qays—who said:
“Muʿāwiyah once addressed us and declared, ‘There is surplus wealth in your public treasury over and above your allotted stipends, and I shall distribute it among you.’ (2)

Hishām ibn ʿAmmār narrated to us— ʿAmr ibn Wāqid, from Yūnus ibn Ḥalbas—who said:
“I saw Muʿāwiyah in the marketplace of Damascus riding a mule. A young servant was seated behind him, and he was wearing a shirt whose collar had been patched.

Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh said, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq:
“Muʿāwiyah was a man the like of whom we have never seen after him.”

Ibn ʿUyaynah reported— Ibn Abī Khālid, from al-Shaʿbī—who said:
“I heard Muʿāwiyah say, ‘Had ʿAlī not done what he did, and even if he were hiding in a cave, the people would still go to him until they brought him out.’”

Al-ʿAwwām ibn Ḥawshab, from Jabalah ibn Suḥaym, from Ibn ʿUmar, said:
“I have never seen anyone with greater dignity than Muʿāwiyah.”
I asked, “Not even ʿUmar?”
He replied, “ʿUmar was better than he, but Muʿāwiyah had greater dignity than he.” (3)

It is likewise narrated from Abū Yaʿqūb, on Ibn ʿUmar’s authority, in similar terms; and Ibn Isḥāq narrated, from Nāfiʿ, from Ibn ʿUmar, the same report, wording it: “I have never seen anyone, after the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who possessed greater dignity than Muʿāwiyah.”

So I said, “He was more dignified—”