234 – ʿAli ibn Yaʿqūb ibn al-Ṣabbāḥ al-Qaysī narrated to me; Ḥafṣ ibn ʿUmar ibn Maymūn al-Qurashī, a Basran, narrated to us; Abū Salām narrated to us; Abū Kāmil, the freedman of Muʿāwiyah, reported:

“I entered upon Muʿāwiyah together with Khālid ibn Yazīd ibn Abī Sufyān and found Muʿāwiyah on his hands and knees, a rope round his neck, while his young son held it and played with him. When we entered and greeted him, he felt embarrassed before me and then said, ‘I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say: “Whoever has a small child should act childlike with him.”’”