7. He said: Abu al-Tayyib al-Husayn ibn Muhammad al-Tammar reported to me at the Great Mosque of Al-Mansoor during Muharram of 347 Hijra, from Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn al-Qasim al-Anbari, who reported from Ahmed ibn Yahya, who reported from Ibn al-A’arabi, from Habib ibn Basshar, from his father, who reported from ‘Ali ibn Asim, from al-Sha’bi who said: When Shaddad ibn Aws called upon Muawiyah ibn Abu Sufyan, he honoured and welcomed him, did not reprimand him for his past lapses and gave him good promises of reward. Then one day he invited Shaddad at a public assembly and said: "O Shaddad, stand before people and speak about ‘Ali and revile his so that I know the measure of your love for me." Shaddad said: "I beg to be excused, for ‘Ali has already gone to his Maker and has been rewarded for his deeds. And you have been sufficiently relieved of your worry about him. Now, the affairs are under your full control because of your generosity, so do not seek from people things which do not behove your magnanimity." Muawiyah said: "You shall indeed rise to speak, otherwise (our) suspicion about you is established." Then Shaddad stood up and said: "Praise be to Allah Who made His obedience obligatory upon His servants and placed His Pleasure with the people of Taqwa, who preferred His pleasure over the pleasure of those He created; upon that path have the predecessors gone and upon that path shall the followers go. O People, the next world is indeed a true promise, a Day on which the Omnipotent King shall judge; and this world has a limited tenure, where every pious and impious eats his share. He who listens and obeys the truth, fears no judgement against him and he who listens and disobeys, expects no judgement in his favour. Surely, when Allah intends good for His servants, He gives them the righteous people to govern them and the learned jurists to decide among them; and places wealth in the hands of the generous among them. And when intends evil for them, He causes the fools to rule over them and the ignorant to decide among them and places wealth in the hands of the misers and niggardly among them. And for the rulers, the most befitting thing is to have the righteous companies around them. O Muawiyah, whoever displeases you for the truth, he is your good advisor and whoever seeks your pleasure by ways which are untrue, he deceives you. I have indeed, given you a good advice in whatever I have said already and I will not deceive you by saying to the contrary." Muawiyah said: "Sit down O, Shaddad." So, he sat down. Then Muawiyah said: "I ordered for you enough wealth to make you self-sufficient. Am I not among those generous who Allah has blessed with abundance, for the sake of the welfare of His creation?" Shaddad said: "If the wealth you possess belongs to you, to the exclusion of what belongs to the Muslims and (if) you earned and spent it in legitimate ways, after having amassed it so that it may not be squandered, then, of course, yes. And if the wealth you have, belongs to you jointly with the Muslims and you deprived them from having access to it; amassing it in abundance and then spending it excessively, then Allah, Most High, says: ’Verily, the extravagants are the brothers of the Devils’ (Al-Isra’, 17:27)." (Upon hearing this) Muawiyah said: "I believe you have gone mad, O Shaddad! (Then turning to his people, he said), "Give him what we have set aside for him, so that he may reach his people before he gets totally demented." Shaddad rose on his feet saying: "Someone else, other than me, has lost his sanity to his desires." He then left, without taking anything from Muawiyah.