Fath al-Rabbani

Qais bin Bishr Taghlabi narrates, he says: My father told me, while he was a companion of Sayyiduna Abu Darda, he said: There was a companion in Damascus, he was called Ibn Hanzaliyah, he was a man who preferred solitude and sat with people very little, he was always engaged in prayer, when he finished, he would begin tasbih and takbir, until he reached his family. One day he passed by us while we were sitting with Sayyiduna Abu Darda (may Allah be pleased with him). Sayyiduna Abu Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) said to him: Tell us something that will benefit us and not harm you. He said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) sent a detachment, so when I arrived, a man from that detachment also arrived and sat in the gathering of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and said to the man sitting beside him: What do you think, if we encounter the enemy, such-and-such Muslim man attacks and while striking with his spear says: Take this, and I am a Ghafari youth, what do you think about his statement? He said: I think he has wasted his reward. But when a third man heard this, he said: There is no harm in saying such a thing. They began to dispute about this until the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) heard their conversation and said: It is amazing, there is no harm if a man is praised and he is also given reward. I saw that Sayyiduna Abu Darda was pleased with this and he raised his head and began to look at that man and asked: Did you hear this from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: Yes. Then he kept repeating this statement until he repeated it so many times that I thought he would surely lean on his knees.