say:
“Ibn ʿAyyāsh al-Mantūf used to malign ʿUmar ibn Dharr and heap abuse on him. ʿUmar met him and said, ‘Man! Do not go to extremes in insulting us, but leave some room for reconciliation; for we never repay one who disobeys Allah concerning us with anything more than that we obey Allah concerning him.’ ”
By this same chain Abū Nuʿaym said: My father related to us; Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan related to us; Ibrāhīm ibn Abī al-Ḥusayn, the judge of Kūfa, related to us; al-Ḥasan ibn ar-Rabīʿ related to us; Muḥammad ibn Ṣabīḥ related to us, saying:
“I asked ʿUmar ibn Dharr, ‘Which of the two strikes you as more remarkable in those who fear Allah: prolonged, brooding sorrow, or tears that flow unchecked?’
He replied, ‘Do you not know that when a person’s heart softens and the tears pour forth, he is healed and finds relief; but when the grief is bottled up, it chokes him and wounds him? So the lingering sorrow amazes me more in their case.’ ”
Zakariyyā ibn Abī Zāʾida narrated: Whenever ʿUmar ibn Dharr preached he would say, “Lend me your tears.”
Aḥmad ibn Salāmah informed us; on the authority of Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad at-Taymī; al-Ḥaddād; Abū Nuʿaym; Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī ibn Makhlad; Abū Ismāʿīl at-Tirmidhī; Abū Nuʿaym; ʿUmar ibn Dharr, who said: I heard my father relate from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said:
“The Prophet ﷺ said to Gabriel, ‘What keeps you from visiting us more often than you do?’
Thereupon the verse was revealed: ‘We do not descend except by the command of your Lord (1).’ [Maryam 65]”
Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Nuʿaym mentioned that he compiled a collection on ʿUmar ibn Dharr.
I read to ʿĪsā ibn Yaḥyā—al-Ḥasan ibn Dīnār will inform you; as-Silafī informed us; Abū ʿAbd Allah ath-Thaqafī informed us; ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad al-Muʿaddal informed us; ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad al-Miṣrī related to us; Sulaymān ibn Shuʿayb narrated to us; Khālid ibn ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān narrated to us