1878 – ʿAbd Allah narrated to us, ʿAli narrated to us, Sayyār narrated to us; Jaʿfar and al-Ḥārith ibn Nabḥān both said: We heard Mālik ibn Dīnār say:

“I used to enter upon al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad al-Thaqafī—who was then the governor of Basra—wearing my itmār (rough, patched woollen garments), and no one barred my way.

One day he said, ‘O Mālik, do not come in to us dressed in those clothes.’

I replied, ‘May Allah amend the governor! I do not know what has made you change toward me; I have always visited you wearing them.’

He said, ‘O Mālik, do you know what makes you so bold in our presence? It is that you have no desire for what lies in our hands; that is what screens us from you.’

Mālik then remarked, ‘Had I been able to inscribe any human words on the two covers of the mushaf, I would have written the words of al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad al-Thaqafī.’”