17 – Through his chain of transmission: A certain man had loitered a long while at the gate of Muʿāwiyah. When he was at last admitted, he said, “O Commander of the Faithful, I have fixed my hope solely on you and have endured your aloofness with patience. One who is close has no right to feel secure, nor has one who is distant any cause to despair; everyone will eventually come to the portion of provision that God has decreed for him.”

Muʿāwiyah replied, “Such words must be followed by action,” and he ordered that the man receive a writ appointing him to Palestine. The man then recited:

I entered upon Muʿāwiyah, son of Ḥarb,
after I had despaired of ever getting in;
I did not gain the thing for which I longed
until I stood in the place of the humble and lowly. ⦗24⦘
I let eyes close upon their motes of dust
and gave no ear to people’s idle talk and rumor.