Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah said, “No one of the age could match Ibn ʿAbbās in his time, nor al-Shaʿbī in his time, nor al-Thawrī in his time.”
Abū ʿĀmir al-Khazzāz relates from Ibn Abī Mulayka: “I accompanied Ibn ʿAbbās on the road from Mecca to Medina. On the journey he would perform only two units of prayer, and whenever we halted he would stand for half the night, reciting the Quran deliberately, letter by letter, his recitation frequently broken by sobs and wailing.”
Muʿtamar ibn Sulaymān narrates from Shuʿayb ibn Dirham, from Abū Rajāʾ: “I once saw Ibn ʿAbbās, and beneath his eyes were tracks of tears like a frayed sandal-strap.”
ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Khaffāf narrates from Abū Umayyah ibn Yaʿlā, from Saʿīd ibn Abī Saʿīd, who said: “I was sitting with Ibn ʿAbbās when a man arrived and asked, ‘O Ibn ʿAbbās, how do you fast?’ He replied, ‘I fast on Monday and Thursday.’ The man said, ‘Why those days?’ He answered, ‘Because deeds are presented on those two days, and I love that my deed be raised while I am fasting.’ (1)”
Isḥāq ibn Sulaymān al-Rāzī said, “I heard Abū Sinān narrate from Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit that Abū Ayyūb al-Anṣārī went to Muʿāwiyah and complained of a debt, yet did not receive the response he hoped for. He then traveled to Basra and stayed with Ibn ʿAbbās, who cleared a room for him and said, ‘I shall treat you as you treated the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him.’ He then asked, ‘How much is your debt?’ Abū Ayyūb replied, ‘Twenty thousand.’ So Ibn ʿAbbās gave him forty thousand, twenty slaves, and everything that was in the house. (2)"