He was once visited in a dream and told: “Go to such-and-such a place, dig there, and you will find one hundred dinars—take them.” He asked his dream-visitor, “With baraka (blessing) or without blessing?” The reply was, “Without blessing.” When he awoke and related this to his wife, she urged him, “Go and take them; their blessing will clothe us and sustain us.” He refused, saying, “I will not take anything devoid of blessing.” That night he was again summoned in his dream: “Go to such-and-such a place and take ten dinars.” He asked, “With blessing or without?” “Without blessing,” he was told. Next morning he repeated his wife’s advice, but again he would not accept them. On the third night he dreamt: “Go to such-and-such a spot and take one dinar.” He inquired, “With blessing or without?” and was answered, “With blessing.” He said, “Very well.” At dawn he went to the indicated location, found the dinar, and took it. Seeing a fisherman carrying two fish, he asked their price; the fisherman said, “One dinar.” He gave him the coin and brought the fish home. His wife prepared them, and when she slit open the first fish’s belly, she discovered a pearl of unmatched beauty. She opened the second fish and found a similar pearl. At that time the king desired such a pearl and sent envoys far and wide to purchase one, but none could be found except with this man. The king ordered, “Bring it to me.” When he presented it, its radiance was magnified before the king’s eyes by God’s grace. The king said, “Sell it to me.” He replied, “I will not part with it for less than the weight of thirty mules laden with gold.” “Meet his price,” the king commanded, and they sent thirty gold-laden mules to him. The king admired the pearl greatly and said, “It will only be perfect with its sister—find me its match.” He answered, “I have her. Will you give me twice what you gave before?” They said, “Yes.” He brought the second pearl, and when the king saw it, his heart was captivated. “Meet his price,” the king said, and they paid double the previous sum. God knows best. (Reported by Maʿmar ibn Rashīd in al-Jāmiʿ [Musannaf ʿAbd al-Razzāq], vol. 11, pp. 468–469, no. 21027; Abū Nuʿaym in al-Ḥilya, vol. 4, p. 8; al-Bayhaqī in Shuʿab al-Īmān, vol. 6, p. 208, no. 7923; and al-Mizzī in Tahdhīb al-Kamāl, vol. 13, p. 365.) And ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak, in his book al-Zuhd (p. 20, no. 59), narrated: “Wuhayb ibn al-Ward told us; ʿAbd al-Jabbār ibn al-Ward told us (in al-Zuhd: ‘Wuhayb ibn al-Ward told us, or ʿAbd al-Jabbār ibn al-Ward’), saying: Dāwūd ibn Shābūr told me (some sources read ‘Shābūr’ with a sin). He said: ‘We said to Ṭāwūs, “Pray for us.” He replied, “I do not consider that accountable (ḥisba).”’” This report is also in Ibn Saʿd’s Ṭabaqāt (vol. 5, p. 241) and al-Mizzī’s Tahdhīb al-Kamāl (vol. 13, p. 364). Ibn Jurayj (misread for al-Ṭabarī) narrated from Ibn Ṭāwūs on the authority of his father: “Al-bukhl (miserliness) is to be niggardly with what one already possesses; al-shuḥḥ (stinginess) is desiring by unlawful means what belongs to others, and never being content.” Abū Nuʿaym records this in al-Ḥilya (vol. 4, p. 6), and al-Ṭabarānī in his Tafsīr (vol. 5, p. 85) under Q. 4:36 (“…and al-shuḥḥ is to withhold what is in others’ hands, loving to have what belongs to them, lawful or unlawful”). Al-Qurṭubī likewise (vol. 18, p. 30) on Q. 59:9. It is said: “Al-shuḥḥ is the abandonment of contentment,” or: “He stings with what is in another’s possession.” It is a disease of the heart that the servant must banish. Al-shuḥḥ inclines one to miserliness, as the Prophet ﷺ warned: “Beware of stinginess, for it ruined those before you: their afflicted ones taught miserliness and practiced it; they broke ties.” This hadith is in Aḥmad’s Musnad (vol. 2, p. 159) and in Ibn Ḥibbān (5176) from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ; its beginning is also in Muslim (no. 2578) and in Aḥmad (vol. 3, p. 323) via Jābir. This is known as al-ḥirṣ ʿalá al-dunyā wa-ḥubbuhā (greed for the world and its love). Ibn Abī Shayba, in al-Muṣannaf (vol. 7, p. 202, no. 35341) under “Words of Ṭāwūs,” reports from al-Muḥārbi from Layth from Ṭāwūs, who said: “Is there anyone who stands to recite ten verses of the night prayer and rises as if a hundred good deeds have been written for him—or even more?”