Ibn Ḥumayd said: Hurr narrated to us, from Mughīrah:
A man from the Kaysaniyyah (1) once remarked in al-Shaʿbī’s presence, “ʿĀʾishah was among the Prophet’s wives he disliked the most.”
Al-Shaʿbī replied, “You have gone against the Sunnah of your Prophet.”
ʿAlī ibn al-Qāsim reported, from Abū Bakr al-Hudhalī:
Ibn Sīrīn said to me, “Stay close to al-Shaʿbī, for I saw people seeking fatwas from him while the Companions of Allah’s Messenger ﷺ were still numerous.” (2)
Abū al-Ḥasan al-Madāʾinī said in his book al-Ḥikmah:
Al-Shaʿbī was asked, “From where did you acquire all this knowledge?”
He answered, “By driving away sorrow, traveling through the lands, showing the patience of a dove, and rising early like a crow.” (3)
Ibn ʿUyaynah said, “The scholars of the people are three: Ibn ʿAbbās in his time, al-Shaʿbī in his time, and al-Thawrī in his time.” (4)
Ibn Saʿd (5) said, “Al-Shaʿbī was small and thin; he and a brother of his were born twins.”
(13860) Transmitted through Muammar, from Hisham b. Urwa, from his father, from Aisha. When someone told her, “He is the worst of the three,” she objected, saying: “He is not liable for the sin of his parents. God has said: la taziru waziratun wizra ukhra (No bearer shall bear another’s burden).” The chain is sound. The same report also appears under no. 13861 through al-Thawri, from Hisham b. Urwa, from his father. Ahmad records a version (6/109) in which Aisha relates that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “He is the most evil of the three if he acts as his parents did,” but its isnad is weak.
Al-Bayhaqi includes it in his Sunan (10/58) and rates it “not strong.” A similar statement with a weak chain is reported from Ibn Abbas. The author of al-Istidhkar notes that Ibn Abbas repudiated the wording “the child of fornication is the worst of the three,” saying: “Had he been the worst of the three, they would not have waited to stone his mother until after she gave birth.” Ibn Wahb narrates it from Muawiya b. Salih, from Ali b. Talha, from Ibn Abbas.
(1) The Kaysaniyya are the followers of Kaysan, a freedman of Ali—though some identify Kaysan as the epithet of al-Mukhtar al-Thaqafi. This Shi‘i faction believed its imam possessed complete knowledge and maintained that religion consists in obeying a single man, leading them to reinterpret the legal pillars as persons and thereby suspend the rites. See al-Milal wa-l-nihal 1/147; al-Maqalat wa-l-firaq 21; The Fatimids in Egypt, 34; al-Taj (entry “Kays”).
(2) See Ibn Asakir, s.v. “Asim b. Ayyadh,” 166.
(3) Ibn Asakir, s.v. “Asim b. Ayyadh,” 163; wording: “and he bore it with the patience of a donkey.”
(4) Tarikh Baghdad 12/227; see also Akhbar al-qudat 2/421.
(5) Al-Tabaqat 6/247.