Explanation of the Hadith of 'Abd Allah ibn 'Amr (may Allah be pleased with both of them)

The Shaykh : The fourth hadith: it is a mawquf hadith, but it also contains guidance toward adopting some of the noble moral traits. The author narrates it with his authentic chain: from 'Abd Allah ibn 'Amr, who said: "Four qualities: if you are granted them, then what is withheld from you of this world will not harm you: good character, moderation in food, truthfulness in speech, and keeping of trusts."
If a Muslim is granted these four traits—'Abd Allah ibn al-'As (may Allah be pleased with him) said, and he was a Companion, the son of a Companion, and one of the greatest ascetics and worshippers among the Companions (may Allah be pleased with him)—when his father married him to a young woman from Quraysh, and after a few days, his father asked his daughter-in-law, the wife of this son of his, 'Abd Allah: "How are you, and how is your condition with your husband?" Her answer was strange to her uncle, her father's husband, when she said to him: "He has not yet lain with us in a bed." She was using euphemism, and euphemism is an etiquette and a style of the Arabs; she was saying: it is as if we have not yet married. The matter weighed heavily on 'Amr ibn al-'As, the father of 'Abd Allah, so he complained of it to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), as if he said to him: "O Messenger of Allah, I married my son, and it is as if he has not married, and I asked his wife, and she said: 'He has not yet lain with us in a bed,' meaning as if the wife fled and he slept in another place." 'Abd Allah ibn 'Amr said: "Either the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) met me, or he sent for me, and he said: 'O 'Abd Allah: ' He said: 'That is the truth, O Messenger of Allah.' So he ordered him (may the prayers and peace be upon him), in a long story which we are not now in a position to explain, and which we have mentioned more than once, that the Messenger (peace be upon him) ordered him to be moderate in his worship: not to stay awake all night, and not to fast all the time, but rather to break the fast sometimes and fast sometimes. And the Messenger (peace be upon him) ended with him, in the end of this story, by saying to him: ' He used to complete the Qur'an in every night; he used to complete thirty recitations of the Qur'an in every month, and he used to fast all the time, not knowing breaking the fast at all. So naturally, a man who stays awake all night and fasts all the time has no need for women, naturally. And therefore the complaint came from the wife of 'Abd Allah. So he ordered him (peace be upon him) to stay awake at night such that he would be moderate in completing the Qur'an in three nights, not completing it every night, or in two nights, but rather in three nights. And the Messenger (peace be upon him) permitted him to complete the Qur'an in three nights. And specifically regarding fasting, he said to him in the end: '.' So Dawud (peace be upon him), despite his fasting, remained preserving his strength and his virility. So when he met the enemy, he would stand firm before them and not retreat, because the one who retreats from the enemy is a sick man, weak in strength. So it is as if the Messenger is saying to 'Abd Allah: "If you maintain this fasting, fasting one day and breaking the fast one day, you will combine maintaining your obedience to your Lord with maintaining the strength of your body and your physique. But the days pass, and 'Abd Allah ibn 'Amr ibn al-'As grows old and becomes elderly—meaning he is chosen by age—and naturally, the law of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in His creation is that when a person grows old, his strength weakens, and this is known in the Noble Qur'an. And therefore, when he parted from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) with the agreement to complete a recitation in every three nights, and to fast one day and break the fast one day, when he grew old, he felt the weakness. So he used to say: "I wish I had accepted the dispensation of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)," because now, when he became unable and old and chosen by age, it became with every difficult breath that he could maintain what he parted with the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding: completing the Qur'an in three nights, and continuing the fasting, fasting one day and breaking the fast one day. So he regretted that he had not accepted the first dispensation of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), where he said to him: '' He did not accept it, except that he wanted more; he wanted more until the Messenger (peace be upon him) brought him to reading the Qur'an in three nights. So he regretted in the end of his life, but he did not want to leave what he parted with the Messenger (may the prayers and peace be upon him). 'Abd Allah ibn 'Amr, what you have not heard is part of his biography. He acquired from his experience, from his life, this advice, so he said: '' If you are granted them, O Muslim, whether you are a man or a woman, then what is withheld from you of this world will not harm you. It will not harm you if you are adorned with these four morals, whatever you miss from this world, from its adornment, from its wealth, from its enjoyment.