and Masrūq, for his part, had blended what he took from Ibn Masʿūd with the learning of others. Rabiʿ ibn Khuthaym (1) was the most strenuous of them in devotion, while ʿUbaydah matched Shurayḥ in knowledge and in issuing judgments.

Ibrāhīm narrated on the authority of ʿAlqamah that when ʿAlqamah travelled to greater Syria, he entered the mosque of Damascus and prayed: “O Allah, grant me a righteous companion.” Presently he sat down beside Abū al-Dardāʾ, who asked him, “Where are you from?” He replied, “From Kufa.” Abū al-Dardāʾ then said, “How did you hear Ibn Umm ʿAbd recite: ‘By the night when it enshrouds…’?”—and so the report continues (2).

Al-Aswad said, “I still remember the wedding night of ʿAlqamah’s mother.”

Shabāb (3) stated, “ʿAlqamah fought at Ṣiffīn on ʿAlī’s side.”

Al-Haytham ibn ʿAdī narrated from Mujālid, from al-Shaʿbī, who said: “After the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, the foremost jurists in Kufa among the pupils of Ibn Masʿūd were ʿAlqamah, ʿUbaydah, Shurayḥ and Masrūq.”

Ḥafṣ ibn Ghiyāth transmitted from Ashʿath, from Ibn Sīrīn, who said: “I found the people ranking five men. Whoever began with al-Ḥārith al-Aʿwar listed ʿUbaydah second, and whoever began with ʿUbaydah listed al-Ḥārith second; then, without doubt, ʿAlqamah was third, followed by Masrūq and then Shurayḥ. Any group whose least member is Shurayḥ is certainly a people of distinction.” (4)

Ibn ʿAwn narrated from Muḥammad, who said: “The close disciples of Ibn Masʿūd were five, and each of them had a physical defect: ʿUbaydah was blind in one eye, Masrūq was hunchbacked, ʿAlqamah was lame, Shurayḥ was beardless (5) and al-Ḥārith was one-eyed.”