It was also said that Ayyub reckoned the hire for transporting the books at a little over ten dirhams, and Hammad ibn Zayd remarked, “They were brought in a single saddlebag of a riding animal.”

Our teacher ʿAbd al-Muʾmin told me that Abu Qilabah was one of those tried in both body and faith: he was pressed to accept the judiciary, so he fled to Syria and later died at al-ʿArish in Egypt, in the year 104 AH. By then he had lost his hands, his feet, and his eyesight, yet he remained thankful and full of praise.

Shabab and Abu ʿUbayd recorded his death in the same year.

Al-Waqidi said: “In 104 or 105 AH.”

Yahya ibn Maʿin said: “He died in 106 or 107 AH.”

Al-Haytham ibn ʿAdi said: “He died in 107 AH.”

Yahya ibn Abi Mansur al-Faqih informed us in his book; ʿAbd al-Qadir the memoriser narrated to us; Nasr ibn Sayyar (1) narrated to us; Mahmud al-Azdi narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Jabbar al-Jarrahi narrated to us; Abu al-ʿAbbas al-Mahbubi narrated to us; Abu ʿIsa al-Tirmidhi narrated to us; Muhammad ibn Bashshar narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Wahhab al-Thaqafi narrated to us; Khalid al-Haddāʾ narrated to us, from Abu Qilabah, from Anas, who said:

The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The most compassionate of my community toward my community is Abu Bakr; the sternest concerning Allah’s command is ʿUmar; the most truthful in modesty is ʿUthman; the best reciter of the Book of Allah is Ubayy ibn Kaʿb; the most proficient in the laws of inheritance is Zayd ibn Thabit; and the most knowledgeable regarding the lawful and the unlawful is Muʿadh ibn Jabal. Indeed, every nation has a trustee, and the trustee of this nation is Abu ʿUbaydah ibn al-Jarrah.”

This is a hadith that is hasan, sahih (2).

The same narration appears in Sunan al-Tirmidhi (3): Sufyan ibn Wakiʿ related to us; Humayd ibn ʿAbd