from Muḥammad ibn Ubayy ibn Kaʿb—who heard his father say, while Ibn ʿAbbās was sitting with him and then rose—who declared:
“This youth will be the scholar of this community; I perceive intellect and insight in him, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ prayed that he be given deep understanding of the religion.”

ʿIkrimah reported: “I heard Muʿāwiyah say to me, ‘By Allah, your master surpasses in understanding everyone who has passed away and everyone who is still alive.’”

It is also related from ʿĀʾishah that she said, “The most knowledgeable person still living concerning the rites of ḥajj is Ibn ʿAbbās.” (1)

The author remarks: “He in fact regarded the tamattuʿ form of ḥajj as obligatory.” (2)

I read this report to Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, and he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad the jurist informed you—in the year 617 AH; Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Bāqī informed us; ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Anbārī informed us; Abū al-Ḥusayn ibn Bishrān informed us; Ismāʿīl ibn Muḥammad informed us; Aḥmad ibn Manṣūr narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Razzaq narrated to us; Maʿmar related, from ʿAlī ibn Badhīmah (3), from Yazīd ibn al-Aṣamm, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said:

“A man came to ʿUmar, and ʿUmar began asking him about the people. The man said, ‘O Commander of the Believers, such-and-such a number of them have recited the Quran.’

“I said, ‘By Allah, I do not like them to rush on this day of theirs into the Quran with such haste.’

“ʿUmar rebuked me and said, ‘Enough!’

“So I went home, dejected and sad. I said to myself, ‘I had a standing with him, but now I must have fallen from his esteem.’ I lay down on my bed until the womenfolk of my household came to visit me, though I was suffering no illness. While I was in that state, someone said to me, ‘Answer the Commander…’