340 – Shujaʿ ibn al-Ashras narrated to us; he said: Ismaʿil ibn ʿAyyash narrated to us; he said: ʿAbd Allah ibn Dinar al-Bahrani—and others—reported that the Messiah (peace be upon him) used to say to his disciples:

“Truly, I say to you: the worst among you in deeds is a scholar who chooses the present world, wishing that all people would act as he does. How welcome it would be to the slaves of the world if they could only find an excuse—yet how far they are from it, if they but knew.”