98 – ʿAbd Allah narrated to us; he said: ʿUmar ibn Abī Muʿādh al-Baṣrī informed me; he said: Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Zabalah narrated to me; Hishām ibn ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿIkrimah informed us; he said:

Al-Muṭṭalib ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Ḥanṭab al-Makhzūmī came to Abū Bakr ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥārith seeking help with a debt that had befallen him. When he had taken his seat, Abū Bakr said to him, “Allah has assisted you with your debt by twenty thousand.”

Someone present remarked, “By Allah, you did not even give the man a chance to ask you!” Abū Bakr replied, “If he must ask me, then I have already taken from him more than I have given him.”