and he ordered that one thousand dirhams be given to him. After that, whenever the man saw him he would say, “I testify that you are descended from the Prophets.”

They said: ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn and Ḥasan ibn Ḥasan—there was some rivalry between them—once fell into a dispute, and Ḥasan ibn Ḥasan spoke ill of him while he remained silent. Later that night ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn went to his house and said, “Cousin, if what you said was true, may Allah forgive me; and if it was false, may Allah forgive you. Peace be upon you.” He then turned back; Ḥasan followed him and they reconciled (1)—may Allah have mercy on them both.

He was asked, “Who is the most consequential of people?” He answered, “The one who is not content to make this world the price for his soul.”

He also said, “Reflection is a mirror that shows the believer his virtues and his faults” (2).

He said, “The loss of loved ones is estrangement.” He would also say, “Some people worship Allah out of fear; that is the worship of slaves. Others worship Him seeking reward; that is the worship of merchants. Yet others worship Him out of love and gratitude; that is the worship of the free and righteous” (3).

He advised his son, “My son, do not keep company with a flagrant sinner, for he will sell you for a meal—or even less—coveting it yet never attaining it. Nor with a miser, for he will fail you with his wealth when you need him most. Nor with a liar, for he is like a mirage: he brings the distant near and makes the near seem distant. Nor with a fool, for he wants to benefit you but ends up harming you. Nor with one who severs the ties of kinship, for he is cursed in the Book of Allah” (4).

The Exalted said:
“Would you, if you are given authority, sow corruption in the land and sever your ties of kinship? Such are the ones whom Allah has cursed; He made them deaf and blinded their sight.” (Qur’an 47:22-23)

Whenever ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn entered the mosque, he would make his way through the people until he sat in the circle of Zayd ibn Aslam. Nāfiʿ ibn Jubayr ibn Muṭʿim said to him, “May Allah forgive you! You are the leader of the people, yet you pass by the study circles of the scholars and of Quraysh to sit with this slave [who is black]?” ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn replied, “A man sits where he benefits, and knowledge is sought wherever it is found” (5).

Al-Aʿmash narrated—on the authority of Masʿūd ibn Mālik—that ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn said to him, “Can you bring me together with Saʿīd ibn Jubayr?” I asked, “What do you need of him?” He said, “I want to ask him about matters by which Allah may benefit us without any disparagement. Those people”—and he gestured toward Iraq—“have nothing with which they can accuse us” (6).

Imam Aḥmad said: “Yaḥyā ibn Ādam narrated to us, Israel narrated to us, from Abū Isḥāq, from Razīn ibn ʿUbayd (7)….”