Book 27, Hadith 1

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

Sadaqa related to us; Ibn ‘Ulayya informed us, from al-Jurayri, from Abu Nadra, who said: A man among us, called Jabir—or Juwaybir—said: “During ‘Umar’s caliphate, I sought something I needed from him. I arrived in Madina at night and went to him in the morning. I had been given intelligence and eloquence—or, he said, speech. I spoke about this world, making it seem insignificant, and left it as though it were worth nothing. Beside him was a man with white hair and white clothes. When I had finished, he said, ‘All you said was measured, except for your disparagement of this world. Do you know what this world is? In this world is what carries us—or, he said, our provision—to the Hereafter, and in it are our deeds for which we will be recompensed in the Hereafter.’” He said: “Then a man more knowledgeable than I about this world spoke about it. I said, ‘Commander of the Faithful, who is this man beside you?’ He said, ‘The leader of the Muslims, Ubayy ibn Ka‘b.’”