It has been related that the Prophet ﷺ once said to Anas, “O two-eared one.” (1)

The Prophet ﷺ would at times single him out for particular knowledge. Thus Anas transmitted from the Prophet ﷺ that he cohabited with nine of his wives during a single forenoon (duḥā), performing only one ghusl (ritual bath). (2)

Khalīfah ibn Khayyāṭ reports that after Yazīd’s death, Ibn al-Zubayr wrote to Anas ibn Mālik, whereupon Anas led the people of Basra in prayer for forty days.

Anas was also present at the conquest of Tustar; he later brought its ruler, al-Hurmuzān, to ʿUmar, and the man embraced Islam, his faith thereafter being sound—may Allah be pleased with him.

Al-Aʿmash said: When al-Ḥajjāj maltreated him, Anas wrote to ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān, saying, “I served the Messenger of Allah ﷺ for nine years. By Allah, if the Christians had found a man who had served their prophet, they would have honoured him.” (3)

Jaʿfar ibn Sulaymān narrated: ʿAlī ibn Zayd told us, “I was at the palace while al-Ḥajjāj was parading the people during the nights of the Ibn al-Ashʿath affair. Anas arrived, and al-Ḥajjāj said, ‘You vile man, ever roaming from one turmoil to another—once with ʿAlī, another time with Ibn al-Zubayr, and yet another with Ibn al-Ashʿath. By the One in Whose hand is my soul, I will uproot you as gum is uprooted and strip you as a lizard is skinned!’

“Anas asked, ‘Whom does the governor mean?’

“He replied, ‘You! May Allah deafen your hearing.’

“Anas thereupon uttered istirjāʿ—‘Indeed we belong to Allah and to Him we shall return’—and al-Ḥajjāj became distracted.

“Anas left, and we followed him to the open square of al-Raḥbah. He said, ‘Had I not remembered my children and feared…’”