Mujālid reported from al-Shaʿbī: “How excellent the common crowd is! They dam up the flood, extinguish the blaze, and raise a commotion against corrupt governors.” (1)

It has reached us that al-Shaʿbī said: “If only I could slip away from my knowledge breaking even—nothing for me and nothing against me.” (2)

Isḥāq al-Azraq narrated, on the authority of al-Aʿmash:
A man once came to al-Shaʿbī and asked, “What is the name of Iblis’s wife?” He replied, “That was a wedding I did not attend.” (3)

Ibn ʿUyaynah reported from Ibn Shubruma:
Al-Shaʿbī was asked about someone who had vowed to divorce his wife. He said, “It is of no consequence.” I (Ibn Shubruma) reproved him, whereupon he said, “Bring the man back to me—your vow hangs around your neck until the Day of Resurrection.”

ʿĪsā ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Laylā said:
I saw al-Shaʿbī reciting poetry in the mosque, wearing a red mantle and a yellow waist-cloth. (4)

Ibn Shubruma said: Ibn Hubayra appointed al-Shaʿbī as a judge and also required him to spend the evenings in his company. Al-Shaʿbī replied, “I am unable to do both; assign me one of them alone.” (5)

ʿĀṣim al-Aḥwal said: “Al-Shaʿbī related more hadith than al-Ḥasan and was two years older than he.”

Al-Haytham ibn ʿAdī reported to us—through Mujālid—from al-Shaʿbī, who said: “The righteous used to dislike …”