(In it) concerning prayer, he reproached him, saying: “I had mentioned a loss of mine.” He replied, “The greatest loss is that you lost it.” Abdullah ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal said: Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad al-Rassaʿnī narrated to us (in some copies “al-Disʿanī,” in al-Hilya “al-Rasghnī”—both corruptions; the correct form is given in Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb, p. 141) from Abū Jaʿfar al-Nawfīlī, who reported from ʿUthmān ibn ʿId al-Raḥmān, from Ṭalḥa ibn Zayd, who said that Maimūn remarked: “Do not seek favor with the amīr, nor allow him to seek favor with you.” (Reported by Abū Nuʿaym in al-Hilya 4:85.) Abdullah ibn Ahmad also transmitted from him: “To be entrusted with the bayt al-māl (public treasury) is more beloved to me than to be entrusted with a woman.” (Same source.) Abū Yaʿlā al-Mawsilī related: Hāshim ibn al-Ḥārith narrated to us from Abū al-Malīḥ al-Raqīʾ, from Ḥabīb ibn Abī Marzūq, who said that Maimūn remarked: “I wish one of my eyes had been taken away so that I might enjoy the other, and that I had never performed a single deed.” I asked, “Not even for ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz?” He answered, “Not even for ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz; there is no good in deeds—neither for ʿUmar nor for anyone else.” (Reported by Abū Nuʿaym in al-Hilya 4:86.) Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal said: Zayd ibn al-Ḥabbāb narrated to us from Sufyān, from Jaʿfar ibn Burqān, from Maimūn ibn Mihrān, who said: “Whenever I compared my words to my actions, I found my own soul raising objections.” (Same source.) Al-Ṭabarānī transmitted that al-Miqdām ibn Dāwud narrated to us from ʿAlī ibn Maʿbad, from Khālid ibn Ḥayyān, from Jaʿfar, from Maimūn, who said: “Maimūn told me, ‘Tell me to my face what you dislike, for a man does not truly counsel his brother until he says to him directly what he finds repugnant.’” (Same source.) Abdullah ibn Ahmad reported from him on the verse “ḥāfiḍatun rāfiʿatun” (al-Wāqiʿa 56:3): “It humbles some people and elevates others.” (Same source.) Abdullah ibn Ahmad ibn Ḥanbal said: “ʿĪsā ibn Sālim told me, from Abū al-Malīḥ, from one of his companions: I was walking with Maimūn when he noticed the linen garment I was wearing and said, ‘Have you not heard that only a rich man or a sinner wears linen?’” (Same source.) Through this chain I heard Maimūn ibn Mihrān say: “The first man whom people walked with while he was riding was al-Ashʿath ibn Qays al-Kindī; and I witnessed the righteous predecessors, and when they saw a man riding with another walking alongside him, they would say, ‘May God punish him—arrogant (jabbār).’” (Same source; the word in brackets is from the original.) Abdullah ibn Ahmad related that he heard from ʿAbdullah ibn Karīm ibn Ḥayyān, whom he met, on the authority of Abū al-Malīḥ: Maimūn said, “I would not care to have for myself the land between the Gate of al-Ruhā and Ḥawrān for five dirhāms.” And Maimūn also said, “Someone might say, ‘Sit in your home, bolt your door, and see if your provision comes to you.’ Yes, by God, if he possessed the certainty of Mary and Abraham (peace be upon them), closed his door, and drew his curtain, his provision would still come to him.” He added, “If every person attended diligently to his livelihood—earning only what is lawful and discharging his obligations—there would be no need for the rich nor necessity for the poor.” (Reported by Abū Nuʿaym in al-Hilya 4:87.) Abū al-Malīḥ related from Maimūn: “I was never informed of any offense concerning my brother in which the annulment of the offense was not more pleasing to me than merely mitigating it. For if he said, ‘I did not say it,’ then his denial was dearer to me than eight witnesses against him. And if he said, ‘I said it and he offered no excuse,’ I disliked him from the point at which I had loved him.”