Ḥātim ibn Muḥammad said: “Abū ʿImrān was one of the most knowledgeable and most memorizing people I ever met. He combined an encyclopedic command of jurisprudence with hadith, together with a grasp of their meanings. He recited the canonical Qurʾanic readings and perfected their rendition, and he knew the biographical details of the transmitters as well as the rules of criticism and validation. People came to study with him from every corner of the Maghrib. I never met anyone whose learning was broader, nor anyone who transmitted more reports (1).

Ibn Bashkuwāl said: “He first taught Qurʾanic recitation in Qayrawān; then he left that and took up teaching jurisprudence and narrating hadith.” (2)

Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr said: “Abū ʿImrān and I were born in the year 368 AH.” (3)

Abū ʿAmr al-Dānī said: “He passed away on the thirteenth of Ramadan, in the year 430 AH.” (4)

I add: A large number of jurists and scholars were trained by this imam.

The judge Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ (5) related: “A question arose in Qayrawān concerning the unbelievers—do they know Allah, Exalted be He, or not? The scholars differed over it, the discussion spread among the common people, disputes multiplied, and they even fought in the marketplaces, until they finally came to Abū ʿImrān al-Fāsī.

He said, ‘If you will listen in silence, I will teach you.’

They replied, ‘Yes.’

He said, ‘Let only one man speak to me while the rest listen.’

So they appointed one, and he said to him, ‘Consider this: if you were to meet a man…’”