As for Saʿīd b. Yasār, he was among the devout worshippers and ascetics. He transmitted reports from a group of the Companions (ṣaḥāba).
So too were Aʿraj and Ibn Abī Mulayka. As for Maymūn b. Mihrān, he was among the most esteemed of the ascetic and devout scholars of the tābiʿūn (Successors). He was one of the leading imams. Maymūn was the imam of the people of al-Jazīra. According to a narration from al-Ṭabarānī, it was said to him:
– What is it with you that not even a single brother leaves you in anger? Maymūn replied:
– I do not argue with him, nor do I engage in business with him."
ʿUmar b. Maymūn said: "My father did not pray much nor fast much, but he disliked disobeying Allah, the Mighty and Majestic."
Ibn Abī ʿAdī narrated, through the path of Yūnus, that Maymūn said:
"Do not argue with the learned or the ignorant. If you argue with the learned, you will not reach his knowledge; if you argue with the ignorant, your qalb (the heart) will become hardened."
ʿUmar b. Maymūn said: "One day I took my father by the hand and we walked through the streets of Basra. We came to a water canal, and my father could not cross it, so I lay down across the canal and he stepped over me. Then I stood up, took his hand again, and we went to the house of Ḥasan al-Baṣrī. I knocked on the door, and a slave girl from the Sadūs tribe came out. She asked who we were, and I said, pointing to my father: 'This is Maymūn b. Mihrān. He wishes to meet Ḥasan.' The girl asked: 'Maymūn, the scribe of ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz?' I said yes. She turned to my father and said: 'O unfortunate man, why have you remained until this evil time?' My father wept. Ḥasan al-Baṣrī heard his weeping and came to the door. They embraced. Then they entered, and my father said to him: 'O Abū Saʿīd, I find a hardness in my qalb; soften it and bring it to tranquility.' Ḥasan recited to him the following verse:
'So tell Me, [O Muhammad], if We gave them enjoyment for years, and then there came to them that which they were promised, they would not be availed by the enjoyment with which they were provided.' (al-Shuʿarāʾ 26:205–207) My father fainted and fell to the ground, and I saw his legs thrashing as a sheep does when it is slaughtered. After a long while, he stood up. Then the slave girl came and said: 'You have tired the old man, now get up and go home.' I took my father's hand and left. I said to him:
– Father, was that Ḥasan al-Baṣrī?
– Yes.
– I thought he was older.
After I said this, he struck my chest with his fist and said:
– O my son! He recited to us such a verse that, had you understood it with your qalb, you would have found many wounds in your qalb because of it."
According to a narration from al-Ṭabarānī, Maymūn b. Mihrān said:
Rather than fall under the scope of this verse, I would prefer not to gain 100,000 dirhams in exchange for spending a single dirham for pleasure and delight:
'And of the people is he who buys the amusement of speech to mislead [others] from the way of Allah without knowledge and who takes it in ridicule. Those will have a humiliating punishment.' (Luqmān 31:6)
Jaʿfar b. Barkān narrated that Maymūn b. Mihrān said:
"I was sitting with ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz. When I got up to leave, ʿUmar said: 'After people like this and their likes depart, only the dregs will remain among the people.'"
Imam Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal narrated that Maymūn b. Mihrān said:
"Do not test your nafs (the lower self) with three things:
1. Do not go to the ruler, even if you say, 'I will command him to obey Allah.'
2. Do not go to a woman, even if you say, 'I will teach her the Book of Allah.'
3. Do not listen to the words of one who follows his desires, for you do not know what may attach itself to your qalb from his words."
ʿAbdullāh b. Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal narrated that Maymūn said regarding these verses:
'Indeed, Hell is lying in wait for the transgressors.' (al-Nabaʾ 78:21)
'Indeed, your Lord is ever watchful.' (al-Fajr 89:14) Seek for yourselves a passage through these places of watchfulness.
'And never think that Allah is unaware of what the wrongdoers do.' (Ibrāhīm 14:42)
In this verse, there is a severe threat for the wrongdoer and a consolation for the oppressed. If the people of the Qur'an are righteous, then all people will be righteous."
ʿAbdullāh b. Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal narrated that Maymūn b. Mihrān said:
"There is good in this world only for two men: the one who repents from his sins, and the one who strives to attain degrees of goodness and performs righteous deeds... Remaining in this world is only good for these two: the one who acts to atone for his sins, and the one who strives and acts to attain degrees of goodness... For anyone else, remaining in this world is a liability for him."
Jaʿfar b. Barkān narrated that Maymūn b. Mihrān said:
"Indeed, this Qur'an was created in the hearts of many people, but they began to seek other words. There are some who follow this knowledge and make it a capital for worldly gain. Some use this knowledge as a means of argument, while others learn it and by it obey Allah, the Mighty and Majestic. This last group is the best of people. Whoever follows the Qur'an, the Qur'an will lead him until it admits him to Paradise. It will drive him forward. But whoever abandons the Qur'an, the Qur'an will not let go of him until it casts him into the Fire of Hell."
Imam Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal narrated that Maymūn b. Mihrān said:
"If a person does not place a barrier of the lawful between himself and the unlawful, he will not safely reach the lawful."
Maymūn said: "If a person wishes to know his rank with Allah, let him look at his deeds. For whatever it may be, his deeds will lead him to the rank he deserves."
ʿAbdullāh b. Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal narrated that Maymūn b. Mihrān said:
"One of the Muhājirūn saw a man praying quickly and reproached him for it. The man who prayed quickly tried to excuse himself, saying: 'I remembered something I had lost while praying, so I hurried.' The Muhājir said to him: 'By praying quickly, you have lost your greatest thing.'"
ʿAbdullāh b. Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal narrated that Maymūn said: "Do not know the ruler, nor the one who knows the ruler."
He also narrated that Maymūn said: "I would be content to be entrusted with the Bayt al-māl (public treasury), but I would not be content to be entrusted with a woman."
Abū Yaʿlā al-Muṣilī narrated that Maymūn said:
"If only I had lost one of my eyes and never held a position of authority.
I asked him: 'Would you not have liked to serve under ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz?' He replied: 'I would not have liked to serve under ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, nor under anyone else. There is no good in holding authority under anyone.'"
Imam Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal narrated that Maymūn b. Mihrān said: "Whenever I compared my words to my actions, I always found some objection from my nafs."
Al-Ṭabarānī narrated from Jaʿfar that:
"Maymūn said to me: 'Tell me to my face the things you dislike about me, for if a person does not say to his brother what he dislikes to his face, he cannot be his sincere friend.'"
ʿAbdullāh b. Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal narrated that Maymūn, while interpreting this verse, said:
'He will bring low some and raise up others...' (al-Wāqiʿa 56:3) Allah, the Exalted, lowers some peoples and raises others."
ʿAbdullāh b. Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal narrated from Abū Malīḥ:
"One of my companions said to me: I was walking with Maymūn, and when he saw that I was wearing a linen garment, he said: 'Have you not heard that only the rich or the rebellious wear linen?'
With the same chain, it is narrated that Maymūn b. Mihrān said:
"The first to ride mounted while making a man walk beside him was al-Ashʿath b. Qays al-Kindī. I reached the time of the early generations, and when they saw someone riding while another walked beside him, they would say of the rider: 'May Allah, the Compeller, destroy him.'"
ʿAbdullāh b. Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal narrated that Maymūn said:
"I would not even wish to have five dirhams on the road between Ruḥā and Ḥawrān."
Maymūn said: A man says: 'Sit in your house, lock your door, and see if your provision comes to you.' Yes, by Allah, if he had certainty like that of Maryam and Prophet Ibrāhīm, and locked his door and drew his curtain, his provision would still come to him. If each of us were content with his lawful earnings and only sought what is pure and lawful, and fulfilled his financial obligations, the rich would not be needed, and the poor would not have to beg from anyone."
Abū Malīḥ narrated that Maymūn said:
"If I receive harm from a believing brother, I would rather remove it entirely than merely lessen it. If he says, 'I did not say such a thing,' then his denial is more pleasing to me than the testimony of eight witnesses against him. If he says, 'I did,' and does not apologize, then I am as angry with him as I love him."
I heard Ibn ʿAbbās say: "If I receive harm from a believing brother, I place him in one of three positions:
1. If he is above me, I recognize his worth and value him.
2. If he is my equal, I show him kindness and overlook his faults.
3. If he is below me, I do not befriend him or sit in his gathering. This is the way I deal with my nafs. Whoever turns away from my way, Allah's earth is spacious."
Abān b. Abī Rāshid al-Qushayrī said: "When I was about to go on a military expedition, I went to bid farewell to Maymūn b. Mihrān. He said to me nothing more than these two sentences: 'Fear Allah, and do not be deceived by greed or anger.'"
Abū Malīḥ narrated that Maymūn said:
"The scholars in every town are my lost ones. They are my friends in every city. I have rectified my qalb by attending the gatherings of scholars."
Maymūn b. Mihrān, while interpreting this verse, said:
'Indeed, the patient will be given their reward without account.' (al-Zumar 39:10) Their reward will be given to them without any hardship."
Maymūn said: "It is more pleasing to me to give a single dirham in charity during my lifetime than to bequeath a hundred dirhams to be given after my death.
Dhikr (remembrance of God) is of two kinds: to remember Allah with the tongue. More virtuous than this is to remember Allah at the boundaries of what He has made lawful and unlawful, and to remember Him when about to commit a sin and thus refrain from it. If you do so, you will be honored.
There are three things in which the kāfir (disbeliever) and the believer have equal rights:
1. If someone entrusts you with something, whether he is Muslim or kāfir, you must return his trust.
2. Whether your parents are Muslims or kāfirs, you must treat them well.
3. If you make a promise to someone, whether he is a believer or a kāfir, you must fulfill your promise."
Ṣafwān narrated that Maymūn said:
"I met people who, out of fear of their Lord, the Mighty and Majestic, could not look up fully to the sky."
Aḥmad b. Buzaygh narrated from Hārūn Abū Muḥammad al-Barbarī:
"ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz appointed Maymūn b. Mihrān as judge and collector of land tax in al-Jazīra.
After serving for a while, Maymūn wrote to ʿUmar submitting his resignation, saying: 'You have burdened me with a task I cannot bear. I am judging among people, but I am an old, weak, and feeble man.' ʿUmar sent him this reply:
'Collect the lawful tax, judge among people according to your opinion, and if you are unable to judge in a matter, refer it to me. If people abandon the tasks they are charged with, claiming they cannot bear them, then neither their religion nor their worldly life will remain.'"
Qutayba b. Saʿīd narrated that Maymūn b. Mihrān said:
"When a servant commits a sin, a black spot appears on his qalb. If he repents, that spot is erased and the believer's qalb begins to shine like a mirror, so that whatever direction Satan comes from, he sees him. But if he continues to sin, a black spot appears on his qalb, and if he persists, his qalb becomes entirely blackened, and he can no longer see from where Satan comes to him."
Imam Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal narrated that Maymūn said: "How few are the intelligent and good people among mankind! Can a person not look to his own condition and see to what he is being driven by people? Let him see into what pit he is being cast in this world."
Maymūn used to say: "These people are like camels, heedless, thinking only of their bellies. When I see their heedlessness, I look to my own nafs and say: 'By Allah, I see myself among them like a camel in their evil and harm.'"
It is also narrated from Maymūn: "There is no charity superior or more virtuous than speaking the truth before a tyrannical ruler."
"Do not torture a slave or beat him for every offense, but keep his offenses in mind. If he disobeys Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, and sins, then punish him for that, and remind him of his offenses against you."
Qutayba narrated that Maymūn b. Mihrān said:
"A person cannot be among the people of taqwa (God-consciousness) unless he calls his nafs to account more strictly than a partner calls his partner to account. And a person is not among the people of taqwa until he knows whether his food and drink come from the lawful or the unlawful."
Abū Zurʿa al-Dārimī narrated that Maymūn said:
"A fāsiq (open sinner) is like a wild beast. If you speak about him and let him go, it is as if you have let a wild beast loose among the Muslims."
Jaʿfar b. Barkān said: I said to Maymūn b. Mihrān:
– So-and-so is slow to visit you and does not come often.
– If affection is firm in the hearts, then even if there are long intervals between visits, it does not matter.
Imam Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal narrated that Maymūn said: "You will not find a creditor more lenient with you than your own belly and back."
Imam Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal narrated from Ḥabīb b. Abī Marzūq:
"I saw Maymūn wearing a woolen cloak under his clothes. I asked him: 'What is this?' He replied: 'Yes, but do not tell anyone.'"
ʿAbdullāh b. Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal narrated that Maymūn said:
"If someone commits a sin in secret, let him repent in secret. If someone commits a sin openly, let him repent openly. For Allah, the Exalted, forgives and does not feel shame, but people feel shame and do not seek forgiveness." Jaʿfar narrated that Maymūn said: "There are three afflictions with wealth. Even if its owner escapes one, he cannot escape the other two. If he escapes two, he cannot escape the third. A person's wealth must be lawful and pure. Which of you has pure earnings, and only lawful and pure things enter his wealth? If his earnings are free from the unlawful, he must fulfill his financial obligations and the rights of the poor. If he fulfills these, then he must neither be extravagant nor miserly in his spending."
Jaʿfar narrated that Maymūn said: "The easiest part of fasting is to abstain from food and drink." ʿAbdullāh b. Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal narrated that Maymūn b. Mihrān said: "The Prophet or anyone else only attained great good through sabr (patient endurance)."
It is also narrated that Maymūn said: "The world is sweet and green, surrounded by desires. Satan is a ready enemy, making a person think that the Hereafter is delayed and the affairs of the world are urgent."
Yūnus b. ʿUbayda said: In the town where Maymūn b. Mihrān lived, a plague broke out. I wrote to him asking about his family, and he replied: "I received your letter asking about my family. Seventeen of my family and relatives have died. When calamity befalls us, I do not like it, but when it passes, I do not say, 'I wish it had not happened.' As for you, hold fast to the Book of Allah, for people have become confused and forgotten it, preferring the words of other men. Avoid those who show off in religion."
ʿUmar, the son of Maymūn b. Mihrān, said: "I was with my father, circumambulating the Kaʿba. He met an old man, and they embraced. The old man had with him a young man of my age. My father asked him:
– Who is this young man?
– My son.
– Are you pleased with him?
– I have seen all good in him, O father of Ayyūb, except for one thing.
– What is that?
– I wish he would die so that I could be patient and earn reward for his death.
After this exchange, my father left the old man. I asked him: 'Who is this old man?' He said it was Makhūl."
Maymūn b. Mihrān said: "The worst of people is the one who finds fault with others. Only the rich or the rebellious wear linen garments."
Imam Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal narrated that Maymūn b. Mihrān said:
"O son of Adam, lighten your burden, for your back is not strong enough to carry all these loads. You wrong this one, consume the wealth of that one, oppress another, and bear the burden of all these sins on your back. So lighten your load."
"Your good deeds are few, so at least perform these few deeds with ikhlas (sincerity)."
"If ugly acts that do not conform to the sharia (the sacred law) are committed in the assembly and gathering place of a people, then their destruction is certain."
ʿAbdullāh b. Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal narrated that Maymūn b. Mihrān recited the verse: 'O criminals, separate yourselves this Day from the believers.' (Yā Sīn 36:59), then cried out and wept. After weeping, he said: "No creature has ever heard a more severe description than this."
Abū ʿAwana narrated that Maymūn said:
"Do not speak about ʿAlī, ʿUthmān, predestination, or the stars. Beware of all whims and desires that are named by other than Islam."
Shababa narrated from Furāt b. Ṣāʾib:
"I asked Maymūn b. Mihrān: 'In your view, are Abū Bakr and ʿUmar or ʿAlī more virtuous?' He trembled, and his staff fell from his hand. Then he said:
"I never thought I would live to see a time when someone would consider Abū Bakr and ʿUmar equal to ʿAlī. Abū Bakr and ʿUmar are the lower and upper garments of Islam. They are the head of Islam and the leaders of the community." I asked him: 'Was Abū Bakr or ʿAlī the first to become Muslim?' He replied: 'By Allah, when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) visited the monk Baḥīra, Abū Bakr had already believed in him. Abū Bakr used to go between the Messenger of God and Khadīja, until he married Khadīja to him. All this was before ʿAlī was born. Before this, Abū Bakr was the Prophet's companion and close friend.'"
Maymūn b. Mihrān narrated from Ibn ʿUmar that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
"In the end times, a lawful dirham or a trustworthy brother will be rare."
Maymūn also narrated from Ibn ʿUmar that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
"In the end times, the worst wealth will be slaves."
Ibn Abī al-Dunyā narrated that Maymūn said:
"Whoever seeks the pleasure of his brothers without reciprocation should befriend those in the graves."
"If a person wrongs another and cannot find the opportunity to repay him and make amends, and the wronged person dies, let him seek forgiveness for him after every prayer. If he does so, he will have repaid his right, God willing. This includes honor, wealth, and other wrongs."
Maymūn said: "The killer, the one who commands the killing, the one to whom it is commanded, the oppressor, and the one who consents to oppression are all equal in sin."
"The most virtuous sabr is to endure when your nafs is reluctant to obey Allah, the Mighty and Majestic."
Maymūn narrated from a group of the Companions (ṣaḥāba). He resided in Raqqa. May Allah have mercy on him.