200 – My father narrated to me, from Hisham ibn Muhammad, from a man of Basra, who said:

A boy was born to al-Hasan al-Basri. One of his regular companions came to him and said, “Abu Saʿid, I have been told that Allah has granted you a son. May Allah bless His gift to you and increase you in the finest of favors.”

Al-Hasan replied, “Praise belongs to Allah for every good thing, and we ask Allah to enlarge every blessing. Yet we have not rejoiced over someone who—were I hard-pressed—would burden me, and were I wealthy would distract me. He is no tract of land for which one toils, nor is he someone whose labor will earn anything in this life. Instead, I would only end up fearing poverty for him after my death, while I myself will be in a state where none of his anxieties can reach me as grief, nor any of his joys as delight.”