Al-Shaʿbī said, “I kept company with Ibn ʿUmar for an entire year, and in all that time I never heard him relate anything from the Prophet ﷺ except a single hadith.”

Mujāhid said, “I traveled with Ibn ʿUmar on the road to Madinah, and I did not hear him narrate from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ more than one hadith. (1)”

ʿĀṣim ibn Muḥammad al-ʿUmarī reported on the authority of his father: “I never heard Ibn ʿUmar mention the Prophet ﷺ without breaking into tears.”

Yūsuf ibn Māhak said, “I once saw Ibn ʿUmar with ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr while ʿUbayd was delivering an exhortation, and tears were streaming from Ibn ʿUmar’s eyes. (2)”

ʿIkrimah ibn ʿAmmār transmitted from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr, from his father, that he recited: ‘So how will it be when We bring from every community a witness …’ [Q 4:40]. Ibn ʿUmar thereupon began to weep until his beard and the front of his garment were drenched with tears. A man was about to say to my father, “Shorten it; you have distressed the shaykh,” (3)

ʿUthmān ibn Wāqid narrated from Nāfiʿ: Whenever Ibn ʿUmar recited, ‘Has the time not come for those who believe that their hearts become humbled to the remembrance of Allah …’ [Q 57:16], he would weep until his sobbing overpowered him. (4)