455 — Abū Hafs al-Sayrafī narrated to me, saying: Ibn Zāʾida al-Bindār narrated to me, saying: Muhammad ibn Ali narrated to me, from an elder of Quraysh, who said:

While Abān ibn Uthmān and Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr were sitting together, a Bedouin stopped before them and asked them for aid. They gave him nothing, but said, “Go to those two young men over there,” pointing to al-Hasan and al-Husayn—may Allah be pleased with them both—who were seated nearby.

The Bedouin went and stood before them, then asked them for aid. They said, “If you are asking because of a grievous blood-money liability, grinding poverty, or a dreadful calamity, then your claim is rightfully due.”

He replied, “I am indeed asking, and all three have afflicted me.” Each of them then gave him five hundred.

The Bedouin departed and passed by Ibn al-Zubayr and Abān, who were still sitting there. They asked, “What did the two young men give you?” The Bedouin began to recite:

[Mutaqārib meter]

They both gave to me and left me with plenty,
While each of you left it to the other and gave me nothing.

May Allah make of your faces two sandals of tanned hide,
For those two young men to tread beneath their feet.

Al-Hasan and al-Husayn—the best of all Eve’s children—
Were fashioned from the radiant one of purest lineage.

So both of you, forsake the path of noble deeds and glory;
Neither of you can ever come near it.