Yahya ibn Mandah said: My uncle was a sword against the people of innovation, and someone like me is far too small to praise him as he deserves. By Allah, he used to enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong, was constant in remembrance, strict with his own soul, immensely forbearing, and vast in knowledge. I once recited to him Shuʿbah’s saying: “Whoever has written down a hadith from me, I am his servant.” Whereupon my uncle replied, “Whoever has written down a hadith from me, I am his servant.” (1)

I heard my father relate: We broke our fast one sweltering night in Ramadan; we were eating and drinking, while my brother ʿAbd al-Raḥmān was eating but not drinking. I went out and said, “Indeed (2) my brother’s habit is to eat one night without drinking, and on another night (3) to drink without eating.” So he did not drink that night; on the following night he drank and did not eat at all. When the third night came he said, “My brother, do not jest after this, for I had no wish to make you a liar.”

Al-Daqqāq said in his Epistle: The first person from whom I heard hadith was the eminent shaykh, the singular, upright master Abū al-Qāsim ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. Through his blessing, sincere intention, and beautiful conduct, Allah granted me understanding of hadith.

He was a thorn in the eyes of the opponents; no censure could deter him for Allah’s sake. His qualities are too many to enumerate. (4)

Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn Hibat Allāh ibn Aḥmad reported that he heard Saʿd al-Zanjānī in Mecca say, “Allah has preserved Islam through two men: Abū Ismāʿīl al-Anṣārī (5), …”