68 – The judge Abū al-Qāsim informed us; Abū ʿAlī narrated to us; ʿAbd Allāh narrated to us; Abū Jaʿfar al-Madanī narrated to me, from ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad, who said: A man from Basra told me, saying, “I heard al-Khalīl ibn Aḥmad relate that Ṭalḥah—namely Ṭalḥah ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Khalaf al-Khuzaʿī—said:

‘No one to whom I owe a promise ever passes the night tossing and turning in eager anticipation of obtaining his need at daybreak more than I myself toss and turn that same night, anxious to go out at dawn and fulfill my pledge to him, fearing that some unforeseen hindrance might cause me to break it; for breaking one’s word is not the conduct of a noble man.’”