Rawḥ ibn ʿUbādah narrated that Ḥajjāj al-Aswad said:
“A man once expressed a wish, saying, ‘If only I possessed the renunciation of al-Ḥasan, the scrupulousness of Ibn Sīrīn, the devotion in worship of ʿĀmir ibn ʿAbd Qays, the legal understanding of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, and something of the remembrance of Allah displayed by Muṭarrif ibn al-Shikhkhīr.’ They considered the matter and discovered that every one of those qualities was completely present in al-Ḥasan (1).”

ʿĪsā ibn Yūnus, on the authority of al-Fuḍayl Abū Muḥammad, reported:
“I heard al-Ḥasan say, ‘On Yawm al-Dār (the day the house of the Caliph ʿUthmān was besieged) I was fourteen years old; I had already gathered the Qur’an to memory and was looking at Ṭalḥah ibn ʿUbayd Allah.’ Al-Fuḍayl is of unknown status.”

Yaʿqūb al-Fasawī said: “I heard Abū Salamah al-Tabūdhakī say, ‘I memorized eight thousand legal questions from al-Ḥasan.’”

Ḥammād ibn Salamah related: ʿAlī ibn Zayd informed us, saying, “I saw Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, ʿUrwah, al-Qāsim and others, yet I have never seen anyone comparable to al-Ḥasan!”

Jarīr ibn Ḥāzim, on the authority of Ḥumayd ibn Hilāl, said:
“Abū Qatādah told us, ‘I have never seen anyone whose opinions so closely resembled those of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb as his—meaning al-Ḥasan (2).’”

Ibn al-Mubārak, from Maʿmar, from Qatādah, narrated:
“We entered upon al-Ḥasan while he was asleep, and at his head stood a basket. We pulled it toward us and found in it bread and fruit, so we began to eat. He awoke, saw us, and was pleased; he smiled while reciting, “…or your close friend—there is no blame upon you” (Qur’an 24:61) (3).”

Ḥammād ibn Zayd said: “I heard Ayyūb remark, ‘Al-Ḥasan used to speak words that were like pearls, whereas the words uttered by certain people after him came out of their mouths like vomit.’”