His father asked him, “Who is this?” He replied, “My son.” “What do you think of him?” he inquired. He said, “There is no virtue, O Abū Ayyūb, that I have not observed in him, except one.” “And what is that?” “That he might die and I be rewarded for him”—or as he also put it, “that I would count it toward his reward.” Then his father passed away. I asked, “Who is this shaykh?” He answered, “Makhḥūl.” (Abū Nu‘aym, Hilyat al-Awliyā’, vol. 4: 90–91.) He also said, “The worst of people are those who constantly find fault, and no one wears linen except a rich man or one who has gone astray.” (Abū Nu‘aym, Hilyat al-Awliyā’, vol. 4: 92.) Imām Aḥmad reports from him that he would say, “O son of Adam, lighten the load on your back, for your back cannot bear all this oppression, all this usurpation of wealth, all this wrongdoing you carry. So lighten your burden.” He added, “Your deeds are few—so make this small amount sincere.” And he said, “No people come to wrongdoing in their assembly except that their destruction becomes inevitable.” (Ibid.) ‘Abd Allāh ibn Aḥmad also narrated that he recited the words, “And depart today, O you criminals” (Qur’an 36:59), then withdrew until he wept, and said, “People have never heard a rebuke harsher than this.” (Ibid.; the text reads “bi-‘itbin qat…”.) Abū ‘Awāna comments that the ḥā’ in “ḥaddathanā Ibrāhīm” (in the qirā’a) is a corruption—here in Abū Nu‘aym’s isnād it marks a shift in the chain, and what appears in brackets clarifies this. He then reports from Qutayba ibn Sa‘īd from Ḥusayn ibn Abdur-Raḥmān from Maymūn, who said: “There are four topics one should not discuss: ‘Alī, ‘Uthmān, qadar (predestination), and the stars.” (Abū Nu‘aym, Hilyat al-Awliyā’, vol. 4: 92.) He added, “Beware of any whim that is labeled anything other than Islām.” (Ibid.) Shabāba reports from Furāt ibn al-Sā’ib that he asked Maymūn, “Who is superior in your view: ‘Alī or Abū Bakr and ‘Umar?” He trembled so that his staff fell from his hand, then said, “I never imagined I would live to see a time when they would be equated; for they were the two garments of Islām, the head of Islām, the leaders of the community.” I asked, “Between Abū Bakr and ‘Alī, who embraced Islām first?” He said, “By God, Abū Bakr believed in the Prophet (peace be upon him) at the time of Bahīra the monk when he met him. And Abū Bakr was the one who interceded with Khadīja on his behalf and arranged their marriage—all before ‘Alī was born. He was the Prophet’s companion and friend before that.”’ (Abū Nu‘aym, Hilyat al-Awliyā’, vol. 4: 92–93.) Maymūn ibn Mihrān narrated from Ibn ‘Umar that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “Hardly will a dirham of lawful wealth be found in the Last Age, nor a brother who can be trusted.” (Abū Nu‘aym, Hilyat al-Awliyā’, vol. 4: 94). This isnād is weak. He also narrated from Ibn ‘Umar, from the Prophet (peace be upon him), “The worst wealth in the Last Age is that of slave-girls (al-mamālīk).” (Abū Nu‘aym, Hilyat al-Awliyā’, vol. 4: 94). This hadith is fabricated, as noted by Ibn al-Jawzī in al-Mawḍū‘āt (2:235). Ibn Abī Dunyā reports from him: “Whoever seeks the pleasure of his brothers without offering anything in return should befriend the people of the graves.” He said, “Whoever wrongs someone and fails to free himself from that wrongdoing, if he seeks forgiveness for the victim after every prayer, he will be delivered from his injustice. This, God willing, includes violations of honor, wealth, or any other wrongdoing.” Maymūn said, “The killer, the one who orders the killing, the one who carries it out, the oppressor, and the one who consents to the injustice—all share equally in the sin.” He said, “The best patience is to endure that which your soul dislikes in obedience to Allah.” Maymūn narrated these accounts from a group of Companions while residing in ar-Raqqa. May God have mercy on him. (1) His biography is recorded in: Tārīkh al-Kabīr (vol. 8: 84); Ma‘rifat al-Thiqāt (al-‘Ajlī, vol. 2: 310); Al-Thiqāt (Ibn Ḥibbān, vol. 5: 467); Al-Jarḥ wa al-Ta‘dīl (vol. 8: 451); Tahdhīb al-Asmā’ wa al-Lughāt (vol. 2: 123); Wafayāt al-A‘yān (vol. 5: 367); and Siyar A‘lām al-Nubalā’.