for ten years—or as Allah willed—and not a single day passed without my hearing from him something I had never heard before.

Muslim ibn Ibrahim narrated: Sallam ibn Miskin told us, “I saw al-Hasan wearing a cloak that sparkled like gold.”

Ibn ʿUlayyah reported, on the authority of Yunus: In winter al-Hasan would wear a striped coat, a Kurdish mantle, and a black turban; in summer he donned a linen waist-cloth, a shirt, and a striped mantle.

Hawshab transmitted from al-Hasan that he said, “The believer shields his religion with his attire.”

Yunus further related that al-Hasan was counted among the foremost scholars on matters of civil strife, bloodshed, and sexual law (1).

ʿAwf declared, “I have never seen anyone more knowledgeable about the path to Paradise than al-Hasan” (2).

Hammad ibn Zayd, on the authority of Yazid ibn Hazim, said: Al-Hasan rose from the congregational mosque and some people followed him. He turned to them and said, “The patter of sandals around a man rarely lingers except with fools” (3).

Hawshab also narrated from al-Hasan that he said, “O son of Adam, by Allah, if you recite the Quran and then truly believe in it, your sorrow in this world will surely be prolonged, your fear will intensify, and your weeping will become abundant” (4).

Ibrahim ibn ʿIsa al-Yashkuri remarked, “I never saw anyone whose grief lasted longer than al-Hasan’s; whenever I saw him, I thought he had just suffered a calamity” (5).