Likewise, when ʿĀmir ibn al-Akwaʿ—may Allah be pleased with him—caught up with the enemy during the Prophet’s lifetime, he would call out, “Take it—from me! I am the son of al-Akwaʿ, and today is the day of the suckling infants!” Hence, there is nothing objectionable in a person, while at war, boasting of himself, his strength, his tribe, and the like.

On another occasion Ibn al-Ḥanẓaliyyah passed by Abū al-Dardāʾ, who said to him, “Give us a word that will benefit us and not harm you”—that is, offer some teaching that helps us without costing you anything. He replied that the Prophet ﷺ had said, “Whoever spends on horses is like someone who keeps his hand extended in charity, never closing it.” In those days horses were the mounts used for jihad in the cause of Allah, and the one who maintained them was like a donor whose hand remains unfailingly open; accordingly, spending on horses counts as charity because they are employed in striving for Allah’s sake.

Ibn al-Ḥanẓaliyyah later passed by Abū al-Dardāʾ again, and Abū al-Dardāʾ repeated, “A word that will benefit us and not harm you.” He then told him that the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him and his family—had praised a certain man but remarked, “Were it not for the length of his jummah (hair) and the fact that his lower garment trails.” The jummah is the hair, indicating that the man harbored a measure of conceit: his hair was long and his garment hung low. When the man heard this, he cut his hair back to shoulder length and shortened his garment.