the others answered with the tahlil as well. I then reflected and said to myself, “Which of the two sides am I to declare unbelievers—and who has compelled me to do this?” He went on: “I did not wait until nightfall before I turned back and left them.” ⦗1⦘

ʿĀṣim al-Aḥwal said, “Whenever more than four people sat with Abū al-ʿĀliyah, he would stand up and leave them.” ⦗2⦘

Muʿammar transmitted from ʿĀṣim, from Abū al-ʿĀliyah, who said, “You offer more prayers and fasts than those before you, yet lying has come to run easily upon your tongues.”

Zayd ibn Ḥubbāb related: Khālid ibn Dīnār told us, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliyah, who said, “I learned to write and memorised the Qur’an, and my family were never aware of it; not once was ink seen on my clothes.” ⦗3⦘

Ibn ʿUyaynah said: I heard ʿĀṣim al-Aḥwal narrate from Abū al-ʿĀliyah, who said, “Learn the Qur’an; once you have learned it, do not turn away from it. Beware of these passions, for they ⦗4⦘ sow enmity and hatred among you. We had been reciting the Qur’an fifteen years before he was killed—meaning ʿUthmān.”

He continued, “I reported this to al-Ḥasan, and he said, ‘By Allah, he has advised you sincerely and spoken the truth.’” ⦗5⦘

Abū Nuʿaym reported: Abū Khaldah narrated to us, from Abū al-ʿĀliyah, who said, “I have not touched my private part with my right hand for sixty—or perhaps seventy—years.” ⦗6⦘

Ḥammād ibn Salamah transmitted from Thābit that Abū al-ʿĀliyah said, “I hope that no servant will perish while he is between two blessings: a blessing for which he praises Allah, and a sin for which he seeks Allah’s forgiveness.”