and he would rise for us only halfway, so that none of his body that must be covered might appear (1). On one occasion I was walking with him when a bean-seller clutched at him, saying, “Shaykh, you have broken me and reduced me to poverty!” We asked the man, “How much does he owe you?” He answered, “Two gold dinars—two and a half at most.”

Ibn al-Khāḍiba said: “Ibn Abī ʿAqīl used to send from Ṣūr to Shaykh Abū Isḥāq a full outfit and a turban valued at eight dinars; yet the Shaykh would not wear the turban until he had washed it in the Tigris, intending thereby to purify it.

“It is also reported that Abū Isḥāq once removed his turban—worth twenty dinars—when he made ablution in the Tigris. A thief came, took it, and left behind a shabby one in its place. The Shaykh came out, put the poor turban on, and did not realize what had happened until he was asked about it while teaching. He merely said, ‘Perhaps the person who took it was in need.’

“Abū Bakr ibn al-Khāḍiba related that he heard some of Abū Isḥāq’s companions say, ‘I saw the Shaykh pray after finishing every section of al-Muhadhdhab (2).’”

Nizām al-Mulk—having lavished praise on Abū Isḥāq—remarked, “What am I to do with a man who, in conversation, makes no distinction between me and Nahruz the janitor? He said to me, ‘May Allah bless you,’ and he said exactly the same to him when the latter poured water over him.”

Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Malik al-Hamadhānī said: “My father told me that he attended a funeral with the Chief Judge Abū al-Ḥasan al-Māwardī. The Shaykh Abū Isḥāq spoke with evident trepidation. When we left, al-Māwardī exclaimed, ‘I have never seen anyone like Abū Isḥāq! If al-Shāfiʿī himself had beheld him, he would have been proud of him (3).’”