He went on: I also heard Malik say, “A man will set out and marry Dībāja al-Ḥaram—the Beauty of the Sanctuary. In Malik’s time people used to say: ‘Dībāja al-Ḥaram is the most beautiful of humankind, and Khātūn is the wife of the king of Rome.’ Or he will go after a slave-girl whose parents have fattened and pampered her until she is like butter, then marry her so that she captures his heart. He asks her, ‘What do you want?’ and she answers, ‘The khimār of Ḥusnā.’ ‘And what else do you want?’ he asks, and she says, ‘Such-and-such.’

Malik concluded, ‘By Allah, the religion of that Qur’an-reciter is stripped away, while he neglects to marry a poor orphan girl, clothe her, and earn reward.’