To his governor in Basra

To ‘Abdullāh ibn al-‘Abbās. ‘Abdullāh ibn al-‘Abbās used to say, ‘‘Apart from the Prophet’s sayings I did not derive greater benefit from any saying than this one.’’

Let it be known to you that sometimes a man gets pleased at securing a thing which he was not going to miss at all and gets displeased at missing a thing which he would not in any case get. Your pleasure should be about…