Qada' al-Hawa'ij - Ibn Abi al-Dunya - (61)

61 – The judge Abū al-Qāsim informed us; Abū ʿAlī narrated to us; ʿAbd Allāh narrated to us; Abū Ḥudhayfah ʿAbd Allāh ibn Marwān ibn Muʿāwiyah al-Fazārī related to me. He said: I heard my father say that Asmāʾ ibn Khārijah declared:

“I have never insulted anyone, nor have I ever turned a petitioner away. The one who asks me is always one of two men: either a noble person whom poverty and need have overtaken—so I am the one most obliged to fill his lack and help him—or a base fellow from whom I ransom my honour by giving. In the same way, only one of two people ever curse me: either a distinguished man who has slipped or stumbled, and I am the one most entitled to forgive him and surpass him in generosity, or a contemptible man, and I would never surrender my reputation to the likes of him.”

٦١ - أَخْبَرَنَا الْقَاضِي أَبُو الْقَاسِمِ، حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو عَلِيٍّ، حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ، حَدَّثَنِي أَبُو حُذَيْفَةَ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ مَرْوَانَ بْنِ مُعَاوِيَةَ الْفَزَارِيُّ قَالَ: سَمِعْتُ أَبِي يَقُولُ: قَالَ أَسْمَاءُ بْنُ خَارِجَةَ: " مَا شَتَمْتُ أَحَدًا قَطُّ، وَلَا رَدَدْتُ سَائِلًا قَطُّ؛ لِأَنَّهُ إِنَّمَا كَانَ يَسْأَلُنِي أَحَدُ رَجُلَيْنِ: إِمَّا كَرِيمٌ أَصَابَتْهُ خَصَاصَةٌ وَحَاجَةٌ، فَأَنَا أَحَقُّ مَنْ سَدَّ مِنْ خُلَّتِهِ، وَأَعَانَهُ عَلَى حَاجَتِهِ، وَإِمَّا لَئِيمٌ أَفْدِي عِرْضِي مِنْهُ، وَإِنَّمَا يَشْتُمُنِي أَحَدُ رَجُلَيْنِ: إِمَّا كَرِيمٌ كَانَتْ مِنْهُ زَلَّةٌ أَوْ هَفْوَةٌ، فَأَنَا أَحَقُّ مَنْ غَفَرَهَا، أَوْ أَخَذَ بِالْفَضْلِ عَلَيْهِ فِيهَا، وَإِمَّا لَئِيمٌ فَلَمْ أَكُنْ لِأَجْعَلَ عِرْضِي إِلَيْهِ "