189. ʿAbd Allāh narrated to us—my father narrated to us—ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī narrated to us—Muʿāwiyah, that is, Ibn Ṣāliḥ, informed us—from ʿAmr ibn Qays, who said: I heard ʿAbd Allāh ibn Busr say:

“Two Bedouins came to the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace. One of them asked, ‘O Messenger of Allah, who are the best of people?’ He replied, ‘The one whose life is long and whose deeds are good.’

The other said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, the ordinances of Islam have become numerous for me; direct me to something I can hold fast to.’ He—meaning the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace—answered: ‘Let your tongue never cease to be moist with the remembrance of Allah.’”