He welcomed him and said, “O elder, these verses are ones in which we have already outstripped you.” The elder rose and went off, whereupon Khalid sent someone after him to listen to what he might say. The man found him reciting:
By Allah, how futile was all I hoped to gain from him,
and what distress and hardship I endured!
I came to Baḥīr, who pours out his wealth,
lavishly giving great sums in search of praise.
But ill-starred fortune, in my wretchedness, opposed me;
my evil luck drew near, and my good luck departed.
Had my provision been decreed with him, I would have received it,
yet the matter lies with the One, the Unique.
The messenger brought him back to Khalid and informed him of what he had been saying, so Khalid ordered that ten thousand dirhams be given to him (1).
Al-Aṣmaʿī related: A Bedouin asked Khalid al-Qasri to fill his sack with flour, so Khalid ordered that it be filled with dirhams instead. When the Bedouin came out he was asked, “What did he do for you?” He replied, “I asked him for what I desired, and he granted me what he himself desires.”
Another narrated that while Khalid was travelling in his procession, a Bedouin met him and asked to have his head struck off. Khalid said, “Woe to you! Why? Have you waylaid travellers? Have you raised a hand in rebellion?” To each he answered, “No.” Khalid then asked, “For what reason, then?” He said, “Out of poverty and destitution.” Khalid said, “State your need.” He replied, “Thirty thousand.” Khalid exclaimed, “No one has profited today as I have! I had imagined he would ask for a hundred thousand, but he asked for thirty—so I have saved seventy. Let us turn back for today.” And he ordered that thirty thousand be given to him.
Whenever he sat down, money was placed before him and he would say, “These funds are trusts that must be distributed.”
A ring belonging to his slave-girl Rāʾiqah (2), worth thirty thousand, fell into the house drain. She asked that someone be brought to retrieve it, but he said, “Your hand is too honoured in my sight to wear it after it has been in that filthy place,” and he ordered that she be given five thousand dinars in its stead. Rāʾiqah possessed an immense amount of jewellery; among it were a ruby and another gem, each valued at seventy-three thousand dinars.
Al-Bukhārī has reported in his book “The Actions of the Servants” (3)—as have Ibn Abī Ḥātim in Kitāb al-Sunnah and several others who authored works on the Sunnah—that Khalid ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Qasri addressed the people on the Day of ʿĪd al-Aḍḥā, saying:
“O people, offer your sacrifices—may Allah accept your offerings. As for me, I shall sacrifice al-Jaʿd ibn Dirham, for he claims that Allah did not take Abraham as a close friend and did not speak to Moses.”