with him—and said, ‘I have quarrelled with my father and sworn not to visit him for three days. If you would be willing to let me stay with you until the three days have passed, please do so.’ He replied, ‘Yes.’

Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: Abdullāh used to relate that he spent three nights with the man but did not see him rise for any night prayer. However, whenever he awoke and turned over in bed, he would remember Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and proclaim His greatness, until he rose for the dawn prayer.

Abdullāh said, ‘Yet I never heard him say anything but good. When the three days had passed, and I had almost come to regard his deeds as insignificant, I said, “O servant of Allah, there was neither anger nor estrangement between my father and me. Rather, I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say three times, ‘A man destined for Paradise will now appear before you,’ and each time it was you who appeared. I wanted to stay with you to see what deeds you performed so that I could follow your example. But I have not seen you perform many deeds. What, then, has brought you to the rank spoken of by the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace?”’

He replied, ‘It is nothing beyond what you have seen, except that I harbour no ill will towards any Muslim, nor any envy of any good that Allah has bestowed upon him.’

Abdullāh said, ‘That is what has brought you to this rank, and that is what we cannot manage.’”

Abdullāh ibn Amr’s words to him, “That is what has brought you to this rank, and that is what we cannot manage,” point to his complete freedom from every kind of envy.

It was for this that Allah Most High praised the Ansār, saying:

“And they harbour no desire in their hearts for what the others have been given, and give them preference over themselves, even though they themselves are in need.”

That is, what their brothers, the Emigrants, had been given. The Quran commentators explained that “they harbour no desire in their hearts” means no envy or resentment over what the Emigrants had been given. Some specified that this referred to fay revenues; others said it referred to distinction and precedence.