Al-Matalib al-'Aliyah 1363 — The broker, and that a town-dweller

Imam Abu Ya'la narrated, through the chain of Muhammad bin Ishaq, from an elderly man of Banu Tamim, that this elder came and sat with me in the mosque of Basrah in the time of al-Hajjaj bin Yusuf, with a staff and a written sheet in his hand which he was holding. Then he mentioned an incident in which there was this: In my youth I came to Madinah with my father; we had brought some camels to sell. He said: Sayyiduna Talhah bin Ubaydullah (may Allah be pleased with him) was a friend of my father, so we stayed with him, and my father said to him: "O Abu Muhammad! Come out with us and get these animals of ours sold for us, for we know nothing about this market." He replied: "As for selling on your behalf, I will not do it, for the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade that 'a town-dweller should sell for a desert-dweller.' However, I will go with you to the market, and if I approve for you a man from among the buyers who deals with you, I will tell you to sell to him." The narrator said: So he went out with us and sat in a corner of the market, and people began bargaining with us over our animals, until, when a man offered us a price we were pleased with, we came to Sayyiduna Talhah and consulted him about selling to him. He said: "Sell to him, for I am satisfied for you with his keeping of his commitments and with his prayer." The narrator said: So we made the deal with him and received our money.