another is like medicine, required only when illness strikes; and yet another is like disease, detested in every circumstance. (1)

It is related from him that he said: “No recreation is sweeter than contemplating the intellects of men.”

He also said: “The triumph of proof is dearer to me than the triumph of power.” (2)

He said as well: “A king will pardon everything except disparaging the throne, divulging a secret, and encroaching upon the sanctity of his womenfolk.” (3)

And he said: “All devices fail when an affair has arrived to make it depart, and when it has departed to make it return.” (4)

He was asked, “Which assemblies are the finest?” He replied, “Those in which people themselves are observed, for no spectacle is lovelier than people.” (5)

Abu Dawud al-Masahifi (6) narrated: al-Nadr ibn Shumayl said, “I entered upon al-Maʾmun and said, ‘Today I have composed the following:

My religion—the creed to which I hold—has dawned,
and tomorrow I shall make no apology for it;
Love of ʿAli after the Prophet—yet I do not revile
the Truthful Abu Bakr nor ʿUmar;
Uthman ibn ʿAffan abides in the Garden with the righteous—
that steadfast martyr;
And Aisha the Mother [of the Believers] I do not abuse;
whoever slanders her, from him we are absolved.’” (7)