a little over ten boys (1), none of whom had reached puberty—and when he saw them, his eyes brimmed with tears. He then said, ‘My sons, by Allah, I have not withheld from you any right that was yours, nor would I take people’s wealth and give it to you. Each of you can only be one of two kinds: either he is righteous, in which case Allah is the Protector of the righteous; or he is unrighteous, in which case I will not leave him anything that might help him disobey Allah. Now leave me (2).’”

He said, “Indeed, I saw one of his sons provide a hundred horses in Allah’s cause.” That is, he gave them to those who would ride them on military campaigns.

I say: This was despite the fact that he had been caliph over the Muslims from the farthest east, in the lands of the Turks, to the farthest west, in al-Andalus and beyond, and from the island of Cyprus, the Syrian frontier posts, and the fortified border districts such as Tarsus and the like, down to the farthest reaches of [أ/ق 4] Yemen. Yet each of his sons received only a small amount from his wealth (3)—said to be less than twenty dirhams.

He said, “I was also present when the sons of one of the caliphs divided his estate, and each of them received six hundred thousand dinars. Yet I saw some of them begging from people—that is, asking them with an outstretched hand.”

In this regard, there are accounts (4) and events witnessed in our own time, as well as reports heard concerning earlier times, that hold a lesson (5) for every person of understanding.