It was also said that ʿĀmir would go on praying from sunrise until the late-afternoon prayer (ʿAṣr). When he finally rose to leave, the skin of his shins had split, and he would say, “O soul that urges to evil, you were created only for worship.” (1)

He once came down into a valley with an Abyssinian devotee; each withdrew to a different corner of the valley and prayed there, and for forty days they met only for the obligatory prayers. (2)

Muḥammad ibn Wāsiʿ reported—on the authority of Yazīd ibn al-Shikhkhīr—that ʿĀmir used to take his stipend, tuck it into the edge of his cloak, and never encounter a beggar without giving him something. When he entered his house he would throw the remainder to his family; they would count it and find it exactly the amount he had first received. (3)

Jaʿfar ibn Burqān related to us from Maymūn ibn Mihrān: the governor of Baṣra sent word to ʿĀmir ibn ʿAbd Qays asking, “Why do you not marry?” He replied, “I have not abandoned women; I am constantly engaged in proposing!” The governor asked, “Why do you not eat cheese? (4)” He answered, “We live in a land where Magians reside; unless two Muslims testify that no carrion is mixed into it, I will not eat it. (5)” The governor then said, “What keeps you from visiting the rulers?” He replied, “At your gates stand people with real needs. Summon them, fulfill their needs, and spare the one who has no need of you. (6)”

Mālik ibn Dīnār said—someone narrated to me—that ʿĀmir passed through al-Raḥbah and saw a man being wronged. He threw down his cloak and declared, “I will not see Allah’s covenant violated while I live,” and he rescued the man. (7)

It is also reported that the reason he was sent away to Syria was that he objected on this occasion and rescued that protected non-Muslim (dhimmī).