- ʿAbd Allāh related to us—he said: my father related to us; Sayyār related to us; Jaʿfar related to us; al-Muʿallā ibn Ziyād related to us; al-ʿAlāʾ ibn Bashīr al-Muzanī—who, by Allah, as far as I know, was valiant in combat and tearful when reminded of Allah—related to us, from Abū al-Ṣiddīq al-Nājī, from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, who said:
“I was sitting in a circle of the Anṣār; some of us were so poorly clothed that parts of our bodies were exposed to one another. A reciter among us was reading the Qur’an aloud while we listened to the Book of Allah. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, came upon us and sat down in our midst, counting himself as one of us. The reciter fell silent, whereupon the Prophet said, ‘What were you reciting?’ We answered, ‘Messenger of Allah, one of us was reciting the Book of Allah for us.’
“The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, then motioned with his hand, drawing it in a circle, signaling us to close the ring. The circle tightened around him. I noticed that the Messenger of Allah recognized no one there except me. He then said, ‘Rejoice, O assembly of the poor! You will enter Paradise half a day—five hundred years—before the wealthy.’”