Ali ibn ʿAbd Allah. They said to him, “Will you sell your father’s legacy of knowledge?!” so he bought him back.

Al-Waqidi narrated, through Abu Bakr ibn Abi Sabrah, who said: “Ali ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbbas sold ʿIkrimah to Khalid ibn Yazid ibn Muʿawiyah for four thousand dinars. ʿIkrimah said to him, ‘What benefit is there for you in selling your father’s knowledge for four thousand dinars?!’ Ali then asked Khalid to annul the sale; Khalid agreed, and he set ʿIkrimah free.

Dawud ibn Abi Hind reported from ʿIkrimah: Ibn ʿAbbas recited the verse, “Why do you admonish a people whom Allah is about to destroy or punish with a severe punishment” (Al-Aʿraf 7:164). Ibn ʿAbbas said, ‘I do not know—were the people saved or destroyed?’ I kept clarifying the matter for him, opening it up until he realized that they had indeed been saved; whereupon he clothed me in a fine robe.

Ibn Fudayl, from ʿUthman ibn Hakim, said: I was sitting with Abu Umamah ibn Sahl when ʿIkrimah arrived and said, ‘O Abu Umamah, I adjure you by Allah: did you hear Ibn ʿAbbas say, “Whatever ʿIkrimah relates to you from me, believe him, for he has never lied about me”?’ Abu Umamah replied, ‘Yes.’

Ayyub, from ʿAmr ibn Dinar, said: Jabir ibn Zayd handed me some questions to put to ʿIkrimah, all the while saying, ‘This is ʿIkrimah, the client of Ibn ʿAbbas—an ocean of knowledge—so ask him.’

Ibn ʿUyaynah, from ʿAmr, heard Abu al-Shaʿthaʾ say, ‘This is ʿIkrimah, the client of Ibn ʿAbbas; he is the most learned of people.’

Sufyan said: The way ʿIkrimah presents the reports of the military campaigns—when he speaks and someone hears him—the listener feels as though ʿIkrimah were looking out over the scene, watching it unfold.

Mughīrah reported that it was said to Saʿid ibn Jubayr, ‘Do you know anyone more knowledgeable than you?’ He answered, ‘Yes—ʿIkrimah.’

Muʿṣab ibn ʿAbd Allah said: ʿIkrimah married the mother of Saʿid ibn Jubayr. When Saʿid was killed (1), Ibrāhīm remarked, ‘He left no one behind like him.’