—if you accept Islam, then it is yours.” ʿAlī then had him mounted upon a horse.

Al-Shaʿbī said: Someone who actually saw that man fighting the Khārijites [alongside ʿAlī] on the Day of Nahrawān later told me about it.

Saeed ibn ʿUbayd relates, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Rabīʿah: Jadaʿah ibn Hubayrah once came to ʿAlī and said, “O Commander of the Believers, two men come before you: to one of them you are dearer than his own family and wealth, while the other—if he had the power—would gladly slaughter you; yet you pass judgment in favour of this one over that one!” ʿAlī prodded him and replied, “If the matter were mine to decide I would indeed do as you say, but this is something that belongs to Allah alone.”

Abu’l-Qāsim al-Baghawī said: My grandfather told me; ʿAlī ibn Hāshim narrated to us, from Ṣāliḥ the cloak-seller (1), from his grandmother, who said: I saw ʿAlī buy dates for one dirham and carry them in his cloak. A man said, “O Commander of the Believers, shall we not carry it (2) for you?” He answered, “The father of a household has more right to carry it himself.”

Abu Hāshim narrates, from Zadhān, who said: ʿAlī used to walk through the markets alone while he was caliph, guiding the lost and helping the weak. He would pass by the merchants and grocers, open the Quran and recite: “That home of the Hereafter We shall assign to those who desire neither exaltation on earth nor corruption” (Q 28:83). Then he would say, “This verse was revealed about the just and humble among the rulers, and about the powerful [those with wealth] among all other people.”

ʿUbādah ibn Ziyād relates, from Ṣāliḥ ibn Abī al-Aswad, from a man who told him: He saw ʿAlī riding a donkey with both legs dangling on the same side [of the animal], saying, “I am the one who has humbled the world.”

Yahyā ibn Maʿīn reports, from ʿAlī ibn al-Jaʿd, from al-Ḥasan ibn Ṣāliḥ: When people were discussing the ascetics in the presence of ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, some named one person and others named another. ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz said, “The greatest ascetic of all people with regard to this world is ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib.”

Hishām ibn Ḥassān said: While we were (3) with al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, a man from the Azāriqah came and asked, “Abū Saʿīd, what do you say about ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib?” Al-Ḥasan’s cheeks flushed, and he answered, “May Allah have mercy on ʿAlī! ʿAlī was an arrow of Allah, striking true against His enemies. In the camp of knowledge he held the most noble post, the one closest (4) to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him. He was the monk of this community—never a pilferer of Allah’s wealth, never a sleeper when it came to Allah’s commands. He gave the Quran its full due in resolve, in deed, and in knowledge, and thereby roamed among its luxuriant meadows and its clear signposts. That is ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, you fool!”

Hushaym narrated, from Yasār (5), from ʿAmmār, who said: A man once related a hadith to ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, and ʿAlī declared him a liar; the man had not even risen before he went blind.