and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mandah (1).

Al-Samʿānī said: I heard al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Riḍā al-ʿAlawī say: I heard my uncle Abū Ṭālib ibn Ṭabāṭabā relate:

“I used to vilify ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mandah continually. When I travelled to Jarbadhaqān (2), I saw the Commander of the Believers ʿUmar in a dream, his hand clasping the hand of a man wearing a blue cloak, with a small mark in his eye. I greeted him, but he did not return my greeting; instead he said, ‘Do you revile this man?’

It was said to me in the dream, ‘This is ʿUmar, and this is ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mandah.’

I awoke, returned to Isfahan, and went straight to ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. When I entered, I found him exactly as I had seen him in the dream. I greeted him, and he replied, ‘And peace be upon you, Abū Ṭālib,’ although we had never met before. Before I could speak he asked, ‘May we declare lawful something that Allah and His Messenger have forbidden?’

I said, ‘Pardon me; I implore you by Allah,’ and I kissed his eyes. He answered, ‘I have absolved you of whatever concerns me (3).’”

Al-Samʿānī said: I asked Ismāʿīl ibn Muḥammad, the ḥāfiẓ, about ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī ʿAbd Allāh. He fell silent and hesitated. When I pressed him he said, “He heard a great deal, but differed with his father on certain questions, and the shaykhs of the time turned away from him; my own father would not let me receive hadith from him. His brother was better than he (4).”

Al-Muʾayyad ibn al-Ikhwah said: I heard ʿAbd al-Laṭīf ibn Abī Saʿd al-Baghdādī,