Anas — may Allah be pleased with him — was known for abundant prayer, fasting, and devotion (1).

After the Prophet ﷺ passed away he settled in Basra, where he owned four houses. During the revolt of Ibn al-Ashʿath he was maltreated by al-Hajjaj, who suspected that Anas was involved in the uprising and had even issued a legal opinion in its favor (2). Al-Hajjaj therefore branded his neck with the words: “This man is the freedman of al-Hajjaj.” As mentioned earlier, Anas lodged a complaint with ʿAbd al-Malik, who wrote a harsh reprimand to al-Hajjaj. Alarmed, al-Hajjaj backed down and made peace with Anas (3).

Anas later visited al-Walid ibn ʿAbd al-Malik during the latter’s governorship, said to be in 92 AH, while al-Walid was building the Great Mosque of Damascus.

Makḥūl said, “I saw Anas walking in the mosque of Damascus. I approached him and asked about performing wuḍūʾ after carrying a bier, and he replied, ‘No wuḍūʾ is required.’”

Al-Awzāʿī said, “Ismaʿil ibn ʿUbayd Allah (4) ibn Abī al-Muhājir narrated to me that Anas ibn Mālik came to al-Walid, who asked him, ‘What have you heard from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ concerning the Hour?’ He answered, ‘I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, “You and the Hour are like these two,”’ (5) — holding up two fingers.”

ʿAbd al-Razzāq ibn ʿUmar (6) transmitted the same report from Ismaʿil, adding that Anas’ visit to al-Walid took place in 92 AH.

Al-Zuhri said, “I entered upon Anas ibn Mālik in Damascus while he was weeping, so I asked, ‘What makes you weep?’ He replied, ‘I no longer recognize anything of what the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his Companions practiced except this prayer, and even it you have altered as you have’ (7). In another version he said, ‘Even this prayer has been neglected’ — referring to the Umayyad rulers’ habit of delaying the obligatory prayers until the very end of their lawful time, a practice from which only ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz abstained during his caliphate, as will be noted later.”

ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd (8) narrated through ʿAbd al-Razzāq, from Jaʿfar ibn Sulaymān, from Thābit, from Anas: “My mother brought me to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ when I was a boy and said, ‘Messenger of Allah, your little servant Anays—pray to Allah for him.’ He supplicated: ‘O Allah, increase his wealth and his children, and admit him into Paradise.’” Anas then said, “Two of those prayers I have already witnessed fulfilled, and I am hoping for the third.”