and profound devotion to God. ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās once saw him, admired his piety and dignified conduct, and chose to follow his example in doing good.
- ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Aswad ibn Yazīd al-Nakhaʿī * (ʿ)
A descendant of Qays, known by the kunyah Abū Ḥafṣ al-Nakhaʿī, from Kūfah—jurist, imam, the son of an imam.
He transmitted hadith from his father, his uncle ʿAlqamah ibn Qays, ʿĀʾishah, Ibn al-Zubayr, and others, and he lived during the days of ʿUmar.
Those who narrated from him include al-Aʿmash, Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid, Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, Ḥajjāj ibn Arṭāh, Mālik ibn Mighwal, Zubayd al-Yāmī, Abū Isrāʾīl al-Mullāʾī, Abū Bakr al-Nahshalī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Masʿūdī, and others.
Al-Ṣaqʿab ibn Zuhayr reports from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Aswad who said:
“My father used to send me to the Mother of the Believers ʿĀʾishah. When I reached puberty, I went to her and, standing behind the curtain, called out, ‘Mother of the Believers, what makes a ritual bath (ghusl) obligatory?’ She replied, ‘Have you done it, you rascal? When the blades meet (1).’”
Ibn Abī Khālid said, “I asked ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Aswad, ‘Why did you not ask the way Ibrāhīm asked?’ He replied, ‘It used to be said: Strip the Qur’an bare.’
I (the author) say: He was among the devout who spent the night in worship.
Mālik ibn Mighwal narrated—from an unnamed man—that he once counted fifty-six units of prayer performed by Ibn al-Aswad on a Friday before the congregational prayer.