“How could I ever feel at ease when the bearer of the Trumpet has already placed it to his mouth, bowed his head, and is straining to listen for the command?”

The Muslims asked, “O Messenger of Allah, what should we say?”

He answered, “Say: ‘Allah is sufficient for us and the best Guardian; in Allah we place our trust.’”

Al-Tirmidhī also transmitted it through Ibn Abī ʿUmar (1) from Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah, from Muṭarrif, and through the narration of Khālid ibn Ṭahmān (2); both chains go back to ʿAṭiyyah, Abū Saʿīd al-ʿAwfī al-Bajalī, Abū al-Ḥasan al-Kūfī, and finally to Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī. Al-Tirmidhī declared it ḥasan (sound). I add: it is also related through another route from him and from Ibn ʿAbbās, as will be mentioned in its proper place.

Among the signs of his ﷺ humility:

Abū ʿAbd Allāh Ibn Mājah (3) reports: Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Qaṭṭān narrated to us; ʿAmr ibn Muḥammad narrated to us; Asbaṭ ibn Naṣr narrated to us, from al-Suddi, from Abū Saʿd al-Azdi—who was the reciter of the Azd— from Abū al-Kanūd, from Khabbāb regarding the saying of the Exalted:

“Do not drive away those who call upon their Lord morning and evening, seeking His Face … lest you become of the wrongdoers” (al-Anʿām 52).

He said: Al-Aqraʿ ibn Ḥābis al-Tamīmī and ʿUyaina ibn Ḥiṣn al-Fazārī came and found the Messenger of Allah ﷺ sitting with Ṣuhayb, Bilāl, ʿAmmār, and Khabbāb, together with a number of the weaker believers. When they saw them gathered round the Messenger of Allah ﷺ they looked down on them. They approached him in private and said, “We would like you to set aside a special seat for us so that the Arabs will recognize our superiority. The tribal delegations visit you, and we are embarrassed for them to see us sitting with these slaves. When we come to you, move them away; when we are finished, you may sit with them if you wish.”

He replied, “Very well.” They said, “Write us a document confirming this.” So he called for a sheet and summoned ʿAlī to write while we were seated to one side.

Then Gabriel ﷺ came down and recited:

“Do not drive away those who call upon their Lord morning and evening, seeking His Face. You are in no way accountable for them, nor are they accountable for you. Were you to drive them away, you would surely be among the wrongdoers” (al-Anʿām 52).

He then referred to al-Aqraʿ ibn Ḥābis and ʿUyaina ibn Ḥiṣn with the verse:

“Thus We have tried some of them by means of others so that they might say, ‘Are these the ones upon whom Allah has bestowed His favor among us?’ Does not Allah know best those who are grateful?” (al-Anʿām 53),

and also:

“When those who believe in Our signs come to you, say, ‘Peace be upon you; your Lord has prescribed mercy for Himself …’” (al-Anʿām 54).

Khabbāb said: We drew so close that our knees touched his. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ would sit with us, and when he wished to rise he would stand and leave us seated.

Then Allah Most High revealed:

“Keep yourself patient with those who call upon their Lord morning and evening, seeking His Face, and let not your eyes wander beyond them” (al-Kahf 28),

and: “Do not obey the one whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance”—meaning ʿUyaina and al-Aqraʿ—“who follows his own desire and whose affair is utter ruin.” He said: that is, destined to destruction—the affair of ʿUyaina and al-Aqraʿ.

Then