Saʿīd said to him:
“Do not grieve because you are black, for three of the finest people were black: Bilāl, Mihjaʿ—the freedman of ʿUmar—and Luqmān the Wise, who was a Nubian with broad lips.”

Al-Aʿmash narrated from Mujāhid: “Luqmān was a black slave, thick-lipped, with cracked feet; another report says: with broad, flat feet.”

ʿAmr ibn Qays said: “He was a black slave, heavy-lipped and broad-footed. A man once came to him while he was sitting among a group to whom he was speaking and said, ‘Were you not the one who used to herd sheep with me at such-and-such a place?’ He answered, ‘Yes.’ The man asked, ‘Then what raised you to the position I now see?’ He replied, ‘Truthfulness in speech and keeping silent about what does not concern me.’ Ibn Jarīr transmitted this through Ibn Ḥumayd from al-Ḥakam on his authority.

Ibn Abī Ḥātim said: Abū Zurʿah related to us—Safwān, al-Walīd, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yazīd ibn Jābir—who said: “Allah elevated Luqmān the Wise because of his wisdom. A man who had known him previously saw him and said, ‘Are you not the slave of the family of so-and-so who was herding sheep only yesterday?’ He replied, ‘Indeed.’ The man asked, ‘What brought you to the rank I now see?’ He said, ‘The decree of Allah, fulfilling trusts, truthful speech, and leaving what does not concern me.’”

Ibn Wahb said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿIyāsh al-Qitbānī informed me, from ʿUmar, the freedman of Ghufar, who said: “A man stopped …” (continuation follows).