Qurrah ibn Khālid said, “I heard Muḥammad (Ibn Sīrīn) remark, ‘Knowledge has passed away; what remains of it are only scattered fragments kept in sundry vessels.’

Khalid ibn Khidāsh narrated to us: Mahdī ibn Maymūn said, “I saw Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn recounting people’s anecdotes, reciting poetry, and laughing until he bent over. Yet when he began to relate a hadith with a continuous chain back to the Prophet (musnad), his face would become stern and he would compose himself.”

Ashhal ibn Ḥātim, reporting from Ibn ʿAwn, from Muḥammad, said: “ʿUmar said to Ibn Masʿūd—or to Abū Masʿūd—‘You are issuing legal verdicts to the people although you are not their governor. Let the one who has assumed its heat also bear its cold.’ (1)”

He added: “Ḥudhayfah said, ‘Only one of three people should issue fatwas to the public: someone who knows what verses of the Quran have been abrogated.’ They asked, ‘And who knows what has been abrogated in the Quran?’ He replied, ‘ʿUmar; or a ruler who has no choice; or a fool who thrusts himself forward.’ (2)”

Ibn Sīrīn then commented, “I am not one of the first two, and I do not wish to be the third.”

Yazīd ibn Ṭahmān reported from Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn that he said, “Muʿāwiyah was never suspected with regard to hadith from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.”

Al-Ḥārith ibn Abī Usāmah said: Muḥammad ibn Saʿd told me, “I asked Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdullāh al-Anṣārī about the debt that overwhelmed Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn and led to his imprisonment. He explained: ‘He had sold a slave-girl belonging to Umm Muḥammad bint ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUthmān ibn Abī al-ʿĀṣ. The girl returned to Muḥammad and complained that her mistress was tormenting her,’