to ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿAbd Allah, who was himself a scholar. Ibn Shihāb would relate hadith to him and would fetch water for him from the well. ʿUbayd Allah habitually prolonged the prayer and would not cut it short for anyone.
He said: I was told that ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn once came to him while he was praying. ʿAlī sat down to wait, but ʿUbayd Allah lengthened the prayer. People reproached him, saying, “The grandson of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ comes to you, yet you keep him waiting like this!” He replied, “O Allah, pardon (me); whoever seeks this discipline must be ready to bear hardship.” (1)
ʿAbd al-Muʾmin ibn Khalaf the ḥāfiẓ informed us; Yūsuf ibn ʿAbd al-Muʿṭī informed us; Abū Ṭāhir al-Silafī informed us; Naṣr ibn Aḥmad said: Abū Ḥafṣ ʿUmar ibn Aḥmad al-Bazzār informed us; Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā ibn ʿUmar ibn ʿAlī ibn Ḥarb told me; ʿAlī ibn Ḥarb narrated to us; Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah narrated, from al-Zuhrī—who was told by ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿAbd Allah, who heard Ibn ʿAbbās say:
“I and al-Faḍl came riding on a donkey on the Day of ʿArafah while the Prophet ﷺ was leading the people in prayer. We passed part of the row, dismounted, and left the animal to graze, and the Prophet ﷺ said nothing to us.” (2)
By this same chain, from al-Zuhrī, from ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿAbd Allah, reaching the Prophet ﷺ, who said: “Whoever goes to bed with grease on his hand and then something afflicts him, let him blame no one but himself.”
This is a mursal report, yet its chain is strong. (3) It contains an exhortation to wash one’s hands of greasy residue.
Al-Wāqidī, Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Numayr, and al-Tirmidhī said: ʿUbayd Allah died in the year 98 AH.