- ʿAbd Allah narrated to us; my father narrated to me; Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd narrated to us; Mukhtār ibn Nāfiʿ narrated to us, on the authority of Abū Maṭar, who said:
“I once saw ʿAlī—may Allah honor his countenance—wrapped in an izār (waist-cloth) and draped in a ridāʾ (cloak), holding a small whip. He looked like an ordinary Bedouin Arab until he reached the Karābīs cloth market. There he found a shirt priced at three dirhams. When the merchant recognized him, he refused to sell him anything. ʿAlī then went to another merchant, but when that one recognized him he likewise declined to sell him anything. At last he came upon a young lad and bought a shirt from him for three dirhams.
Later the boy’s father was informed of the sale. He took one dirham, went to ʿAlī, and said, “Here is the dirham, O Commander of the Believers.” ʿAlī asked, “What is the matter with this dirham?” The man replied, “The shirt was actually worth two dirhams.” ʿAlī said, “He sold it to me with my good pleasure, and he received it with his good pleasure.”