to his brother, “You disbeliever,” the accusation rebounds upon one of them.” (1)
Many of his companions would say to him, “Certain people are speaking against you.”
He would reply, “The plotting of Satan is ever feeble” (Q 4:76), and he would also recite, “Evil plotting overtakes none but its authors” (Q 35:43).
ʿAbd al-Majīd ibn Ibrāhīm once said to him, “Why do you not invoke Allah against those who wrong you, attack you, and slander you?”
He answered, “The Prophet ﷺ said: ‘Be patient until you meet me at the Pond.’ (2) And he ﷺ said: ‘Whoever supplicates against his oppressor has already taken his due.’ (3)”
Muḥammad ibn Abī Ḥātim said: I heard him say, “Never did any of the riffraff target us without being struck by a calamity from which he did not escape; and whenever the ignorant schemed to plot against us, I would see in my sleep that very night a fire being lit and then extinguished before anyone could benefit from it. I would interpret this by the Almighty’s words: ‘Whenever they kindle a fire for war, Allah extinguishes it’ (Q 5:64).”
(1) Reported by Malik, 3/148 (with al-Suyuti’s commentary) in the Book of Speech, chapter “What is disapproved of speech.” The same wording is found in Ahmad, 2/113; al-Bukhari, 10/428; and al-Tirmidhi, no. 2637, all through the chain of Abdullah ibn Dinar from Ibn Umar. Muslim, no. 60, transmits it via Ismail ibn Jaʿfar from Abdullah ibn Dinar and also through Ubayd Allah ibn Umar. Abu Dawud, no. 4687, and Ahmad, 2/60, relate it through Fudayl ibn Ghazwan; both of these chains pass through Nafiʿ from Ibn Umar. Ahmad records additional routes at 2/18, 44, 47, and 112, all from Abdullah ibn Dinar from Ibn Umar.
(2) Narrated from Usayd ibn Hudayr by al-Bukhari, 7/89–90 (Book on the Merits of the Companions, chapter “The virtue of the Ansar”) and 7057 (Book of Tribulations, chapter “You will see after me matters you will disapprove of”); Muslim, no. 1845 (Book of Leadership, chapter “Command to show patience when rulers are unjust”); al-Tirmidhi, no. 2190; and al-Nasaʾi, 8/224–225. It is also transmitted from Anas ibn Malik by al-Bukhari, 7/192, and from Abdullah ibn Zayd by al-Bukhari, 8/37–42, and Muslim, no. 1061.
(3) Related by al-Tirmidhi, no. 3552 (Book of Supplications) on the authority of Aʿisha. Its chain contains Abu Hamza Maymun al-Aʿwar, who is weak. Al-Manawi cites in Fayd al-Qadir that al-Tirmidhi said in his ʿIlal: when al-Bukhari was asked about this hadith he replied, “I know of no one who narrated it except Abu al-Ahwas; yet it actually comes through Abu Hamza, and Abu Hamza is extremely weak.”