I would stand there, and they would hand me a crust of bread, and that would satisfy me. I saw that one of the men had a cloak, so I said to him, “Give it to me so I may cover myself.” He gave it to me; I entered iḥrām (ritual consecration) wearing it, and then made my way back.

Now the caliph had declared a certain slave-girl forbidden to himself and wanted her removed from the palace.

Al-Sunnī relates: The caliph said, “Look for a respectable man to whom this slave-girl can be married.” Someone said, “Ibn Samʿūn has arrived.” The caliph approved and married her to him.

Thereafter he would exhort the people, saying, “I set out for the pilgrimage…,” describing his circumstances and adding, “Today you see the clothes I am wearing (1)!!”

I say: They were garments of the finest quality.

Abu Bakr al-Barqānī said: I once asked him, “You call people to asceticism, yet you wear the best clothes and eat the choicest food—how is that?” He replied, “Do whatever benefits you for the sake of Allah; act upon it once your state with Allah—Most High (2)—is sound.”

Abu Muḥammad al-Khallāl reported: Ibn Samʿūn asked me, “What is your name?” I answered, “Ḥasan.” He said, “Allah has already granted you the name, so ask Him for its reality (3).”

Abu Najīb al-Urmuwī said: I asked Abū Dharr about Ibn Samʿūn, “Did you ever doubt him?” He replied, “I was informed that he transmitted a fascicle from Ibn Abī Dāwūd in which the wording states: ‘—and Abū al-Ḥusayn ibn Samʿūn.’ That, however, was another man, for our Ibn Samʿūn was still a child then, and people were not yet addressing him by that kunyah at the time. His hearing from other teachers, though, is sound.”

Judge Abū Bakr al-Ashʿarī and Abū Ḥāmid both used to kiss his hand, and the judge would say, “Sometimes part of his speech escapes me because of its subtlety (4).”

Al-Sulamī said: I heard Ibn Samʿūn comment on the verse, “And We appointed for Moses thirty nights…”