Wakīʿ narrated to us; Sufyān narrated, from Ashʿath, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: “Luqmān was an Abyssinian slave.”(1)

Aswad narrated to us; Ḥammād narrated, from ʿAlī ibn Zayd, from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, that Luqmān was a tailor.(2)

Siyyār narrated to us; Jaʿfar narrated to us; Mālik—meaning Ibn Dīnār—reported that Luqmān said to his son: “My son, turn obedience to Allah into a trade; its profits will come to you without any capital.”(3)

Yazīd narrated to us; Abū al-Ashhab narrated, from Muḥammad ibn Wāsiʿ, who said: Luqmān used to say to his son, “My son, fear Allah, but do not display your fear of Him to people so that they honor you for it while your heart remains sinful.”(4)

Yazīd ibn Hārūn and Wakīʿ both narrated to us,(5) Abū al-Ashhab narrated, from Khālid al-Rabbaʿī, who said: “Luqmān was an Abyssinian slave and a carpenter. His master said to him, ‘Slaughter a sheep for me,’ so he slaughtered one. Then the master said, ‘Bring me the two choicest morsels in it,’ so Luqmān brought the tongue and the heart. The master asked, ‘Was there nothing better than these two?’ He replied, ‘No.’ After a while the master said, ‘Slaughter another sheep,’ so he did. Then he said, ‘Now throw away its two worst morsels,’ so Luqmān discarded the tongue(6) and the heart. The master exclaimed, ‘I told you to bring the best and you brought the tongue and the heart; then I told you to cast aside the worst and you cast aside the tongue and the heart!’ Luqmān replied, ‘Nothing is better than these two when they are good, and nothing is worse than them when they go bad.’”(7)

Dāwūd ibn Rushayd narrated to us; Ibn al-Mubārak narrated to us; Maʿmar narrated, from Abū ʿUthmān—a man from Basra called al-Jaʿd Abū ʿUthmān—who said: Luqmān said to his son, “Do not seek the friendship of an ignorant man, for he will think you approve of his deeds; and do not belittle the displeasure of a wise man, lest he turn away from you.”(8)

Dāwūd ibn Asīd narrated to us; Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh narrated, from Ḍamḍam ibn Zurʿah, from Shurayḥ ibn ʿUbayd al-Ḥaḍramī, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Zayd, who said: Luqmān said, “Indeed, the hand of Allah is upon the mouths of the wise; none of them speaks except what Allah has prepared for him.”(9)