Abu al-Ashhab said, “I heard Bakr say:
‘O Allah, grant us provision that increases us in gratitude to You, deepens our need and poverty before You, and, through You, makes us independent of all others.’⦗1⦘

Hamid al-Tawil said, “Bakr ibn ʿAbd Allah was a man whose prayers were answered.”⦗2⦘

Mubarak ibn Fadala reported: al-Hasan attended the funeral of Bakr ibn ʿAbd Allah riding a donkey. When he saw the people crowding about, he said, “What they incur of sin is greater than what they earn of reward; they are only standing and looking on. If they are able to carry the bier, let them relieve their brothers.”⦗3⦘

Ghalib al-Qattan related that Bakr said, “Beware of a type of speech in which, even if you are right, you gain no reward, and if you are wrong, you incur sin—that is, thinking ill of your brother.”⦗4⦘

Abu Walid al-Tayalisi said: “Ziyad ibn Abi Muslim told us, ‘I saw Bakr ibn ʿAbd Allah dyeing his hair black.’”⦗5⦘

Muʾammil ibn Ismaʿil said, “Bakr ibn ʿAbd Allah died in 106 AH.” Others said—and this is the sounder report—that he died in 108 AH.⦗6⦘

Qutaybah narrated: Muʿawiyah ibn ʿAbd al-Karim al-Thaqafi told us, “I heard Bakr ibn ʿAbd Allah say on a Friday:
‘If it were said to me, “Take the hand of the best person in the mosque,” I would reply, “Point me to the one who gives the most sincere counsel to the public,” and when it was said, “Here he is,” I would take his hand.
If it were said to me, “Take the hand of the worst of them,” I would reply, “Show me the one who most deceives the public.”
And if a herald were to proclaim from the sky, “Only one man among you will enter Paradise,” it would behoove every person to seek—’"}