Abul Hasan Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ibn al-Walid, may Allah bless him with mercy, reported to me from his father, who reported from Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Saffar, who reported from Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Khalid, who reported from his father, who reported from Ahmad ibn al-Nadhr al-Khazzaz, from Amru ibn Shimr, from Jabir ibn Yazid, that:
Abu Ja’far Muhammad ibn ‘Ali ibn al-Husayn, peace be upon him, said: Abu Dharr al-Ghifari stood near al-Kabah and announced: “I am Jundab ibn al-Sakan,” so people gathered around him. Then he said: “O people, if someone from you decides to travel, he will prepare to make it comfortable. Do you not intend to make your journey to the Day of Judgement comfortable for yourselves?” One man stood up and said: “Counsel us further, may Allah bless you with mercy.”
Abu Dharr said: “To fast on a day of fierce heat is beneficent on the day of Resurrection; to go on pilgrimage to the Sacred House helps resolve important matters in life and two Rakats of prayers in the darkness of the night averts the fright in the graves.
Let your speech be two versions: a good word which you must speak up, and a bad word you ought to spare. And be charitable to the poor; perhaps that should save you, O poor soul, on the Day of anguish.
And let your earnings from this world be two Dirhams: one to maintain your dependents and one to send forward for your next world. The third one is harmful and not beneficent, so do not covet it. And let your interest in this world be in two ways: one for earning that which is lawful and another for your hereafter. The third way is harmful and of no benefit, therefore do not seek it.”
Then he said: “(How strange that) the worries of a day I have not (yet) seen (i.e. tomorrow) kills me!”