for they are envoys to those who remain behind them. Nor should you ever listen to the word of a slanderer or to any malicious whisper (1), for I have found such people to be ministers of evil (2).

Another chain of transmission states that Muʿāwiyah said to Yazīd, “I have a close friend among the people of Madinah, so honor him.”

Yazīd asked, “And who is he?”

He replied, “ʿAbd Allah ibn Jaʿfar.”

After Muʿāwiyah’s death, when ʿAbd Allah came to Yazīd, the latter doubled the grant that Muʿāwiyah had been giving him. Muʿāwiyah’s stipend had been six-hundred thousand, so Yazīd gave him one million. ʿAbd Allah said, “May my father and mother be your ransom!” whereupon Yazīd gave him another one million. Ibn Jaʿfar then declared, “By Allah, I shall never dedicate my parents to anyone after you.”

When Ibn Jaʿfar left Yazīd’s presence—having received two million—he saw at the gate some kneeling bakhati (3) camels that had arrived as a gift from Khurasan. He went back to Yazīd and asked for three of those bakhati to ride for Hajj, ʿUmrah, and whenever he visited him.

Yazīd said to the chamberlain, “What are these bakhati at the door?”—for he had not been aware of them.

The chamberlain replied, “O Commander of the Believers, four hundred bakhtiyyah have come to us from Khurasan, bearing every kind of gift and laden with all sorts of wealth.”

Yazīd said, “Hand them over to Abū Jaʿfar with everything on them.”

ʿAbd Allah ibn Jaʿfar used to say, “Do you reproach me for thinking well of this man?”—meaning Yazīd (4).

Yazīd did indeed possess praiseworthy qualities: generosity, forbearance, eloquence, poetry, courage, and sound judgment in governance. He was handsome and pleasant in company. Yet he was also prone to indulgence in desires and was known to neglect some prayers at times.

Imam Aḥmad said: Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān narrated to us; Ḥaywah narrated to us; Bashīr ibn Abī ʿAmr al-Khawlānī narrated to me that al-Walīd ibn Qays related that he heard Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī say: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say:

“There will arise a generation after sixty years who neglect the prayer and follow their desires; they shall soon meet ruin (5). Then another generation will arise who recite the Quran yet it will not go beyond their collar-bones. The Quran is recited by three kinds of people: a believer, a hypocrite, and a sinner.”

[Bashīr added] (6): I said to al-Walīd, “Who are these three?” He replied, “The hypocrite disbelieves in it, the sinner lives off it, and the believer believes in it.” This report is unique to Aḥmad (7).