On the authority of ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Hārith: he once met Ibn Abī Laylā and remarked, “I never imagined that women could give birth to anyone like this.”

Shuʿbah narrates—from ʿAmr ibn Murrah—from Ibn Abī Laylā, who said:
“I accompanied ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, both when we were settled and when we were travelling, and most of what people report about him is false. (1)”

Al-Aʿmash said: “I saw Ibn Abī Laylā after al-Ḥajjāj had beaten him; his back looked like a tanned hide (2). He was leaning on his son while they kept saying to him, ‘Curse the liars!’ So he responded, ‘May Allah curse the liars.’

Then he went on repeating, ‘Allah, Allah—ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, al-Mukhtār ibn Abī ʿUbayd.’

Al-Aʿmash added, ‘The people of Syria were like donkeys, unaware of what he meant, while he was in fact exempting those men from the curse. (3)’”

I (the author) say: Later on, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān was one of the leading scholars and righteous men who joined ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ashʿath in his uprising, and he had occasion to visit Muʿāwiyah as part of a delegation.

This was recorded by his son, the judge Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Laylā.

Ishāq al-Ṣaffār informed us; Ibn Khalīl narrated to us; al-Labbān narrated to us; Abū ʿAlī narrated to us; Abū Nuʿaym reported to us; Abū Bakr ibn Mālik narrated to us; ʿAbd Allah ibn Aḥmad narrated to us; ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar narrated to us; Muʿāwiyah ibn Hishām narrated to us; Sufyān narrated—from al-Aʿmash—who said:
“ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Laylā used to stand in prayer, but if anyone entered, he would lie down on his bed. (4)”

Through this same chain, Abū Nuʿaym said: “Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥasan narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn …”