Someone protested, “By Allah, ʿAlqamah is not the most proficient among us in recitation.”
He replied, “Indeed he is—by Allah—and, if you wish, I will tell you what has been said about your people and his.”
Al-Aʿmash reported from Ibrāhīm: “ʿAlqamah used to complete a full reading of the Qur’an in five nights, al-Aswad in six, and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yazīd in seven.”
Jarīr ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd related from Qābūs ibn Abī Ẓabyān:
“I said to my father, ‘There is nothing in your religion better than this. I would not wish, together with my own two thousand, to have another two thousand nor to be the most honoured soldier on account of it.’” (1)
Ibrāhīm said: “Abū Burdah wrote ʿAlqamah’s name on the list of the delegation that was to visit Muʿāwiyah. ʿAlqamah said to him, ‘Erase my name, erase my name.’”
ʿAlqamah also said, “Whatever I memorised while I was young is as if I can still see it written before me on parchment.”
Ibrāhīm reported on the authority of ʿAlqamah (2) that he owned a bardhawun—a riding horse—on which he would stake wagers.
Al-Aʿmash narrated from Mālik ibn al-Ḥārith, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yazīd:
“We said to ʿAlqamah, ‘If only you would lead the prayer in the mosque and we could sit with you so that people might ask you questions.’
He replied, ‘I dislike people pointing me out and saying, “That is ʿAlqamah.”’
They said, ‘Why do you not visit the governors?’
He answered, ‘I fear they would belittle me more than I would belittle them.’”
Ibrāhīm narrated from ʿAlqamah:
“I am a man to whom Allah has granted a beautiful voice for the Qur’an. Ibn Masʿūd would send for me, so I would recite to him, and when I had finished he would say, ‘Give us more—may my father and mother be ransomed for you—for I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: “A fine voice is an adornment for the Qur’an.”’” (3)
Abū Isḥāq narrated from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yazīd:
ʿAbd Allāh (Ibn Masʿūd) said, “There is nothing I recite or know except that ʿAlqamah recites it or knows it.”
Ziyād ibn Hudayr said, “O Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān …”