216 – I was told by ʿAbd al-Hamid ibn ʿUmar, who said: “A shaykh from Basra narrated to us, saying: ‘I heard Malik ibn Dinar relate, on the authority of al-Hasan, that he said:

“No poverty is harsher than ignorance, no wealth more rewarding than sound reason, no act of worship equals earnest reflection, no beauty surpasses noble character, and no scrupulous self-restraint excels the mere act of holding back (from what is forbidden).”’”}