63 — Muhammad ibn al-Husayn narrated to me. He said: Muhammad ibn Abd al-Azīz narrated to me. He said: My father narrated to me. He said: Mālik ibn Dīnār said, “The believer is noble in every circumstance. He does not wish his neighbor to be harmed or any of his relatives to fall into poverty.”

He said: Mālik would then weep and say, “By Allah, despite all this, he is rich at heart, though he possesses nothing of this world. If you try to turn him from his faith, he will not turn; but if you deceive him out of his wealth, he can be deceived. He does not regard this world as a substitute for the Hereafter, nor does he regard stinginess as having any share in generosity. He is broken-hearted, burdened by concerns that he alone bears, distressed and sorrowful, with no share in the joys of this world. If anything of it comes to him, he distributes it; and if everything in it is withheld from him, he does not seek it.”

He said: Then he would weep and say, “This, by Allah, is nobility! This, by Allah, is nobility!”