Hārūn al-Ḥammāl said: al-Walīd ibn al-Qāsim narrated to us, al-Aḥwaṣ ibn Ḥakīm narrated to us, my father narrated to me, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿĀʾidh al-Thumālī, who said:
“The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to dye his beard with water infused with sidr leaves, and he would command us to do likewise in order to differ from the non-Arabs (1).”
It was said that when al-Ḥajjāj had ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿĀʾidh brought before him, he asked, “How are you this morning?”
He replied, “Not as Allah wills, nor as Satan wills, nor as I will.”
Al-Ḥajjāj exclaimed, “Woe to you! What are you saying?”
He answered, “Indeed. Allah wants me to be a devout ascetic, and I am not that; Satan wants me to be a flagrant sinner who has broken away, and I am not that; and I myself want only to be left alone in my house, safe among my family, and I am not that either.”
Al-Ḥajjāj then said, “Iraqi refinement, Syrian birth, and he was our neighbor when we were in Ṭāʾif—release him.”
188 – ʿAlī ibn Rabīʿah, Abū al-Mughīrah al-Wālibī al-Kūfī (ʿ)
One of the reliable scholars.
He transmitted ḥadith from: ʿAlī, Asmāʾ ibn al-Ḥakam, al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah, and Ibn ʿUmar.
Those who narrated from him include: Saʿd ibn ʿUbayd al-Ṭāʾī, Salamah ibn Kuhayl, Abū Isḥāq, ʿĀṣim ibn Abī al-Najūd, Ismāʿīl ibn Abī al-Ṣufayrā (2), and others.
Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn declared him trustworthy.