from him.
Hammad ibn Zayd said: Someone asked Ayyub, “Did you people ever harbour doubts about Ikrimah?” He replied, “As for me, I never doubted him.”
Al-Aʿmash, narrating from Habib ibn Abi Thabit, said: “Ikrimah once passed by ʿAtaʾ and Saʿid ibn Jubayr while he was relating traditions to them. When he left, I asked the two, ‘Is there anything in what he has just narrated that you reject?’ They answered, ‘No.’”
Shayban, reporting from Abu Ishaq, said: “I heard Saʿid ibn Jubayr say, ‘You transmit reports from Ikrimah which, had I been present, he would not have narrated.’” He added, “Then Ikrimah came and recounted every one of those very reports while everyone sat silent, and Saʿid said nothing.
“Afterwards Ikrimah rose to depart. The people asked him, ‘Abu ʿAbd Allah, what do you think (of what was said)?’ He folded his fingers to the count of thirty and said, ‘The hadith is sound.’”
Ayyub related that Ikrimah once remarked, “Do you see these people who call me a liar behind my back? Why do they not accuse me to my face?”
Hajjaj al-Sawwaf, quoting Artaʾah ibn Abi Artaʾah, said: “He heard Ikrimah addressing a group that included Saʿid ibn Jubayr and others. Ikrimah declared, ‘Knowledge has a price, so pay its price.’ They asked, ‘And what is its price, Abu ʿAbd Allah?’ He replied, ‘That you place it only with one who will preserve it well and not squander it.’”
Sulayman al-Ahwal said: “I met Ikrimah while one of his sons was with him. I asked, ‘Does this boy memorise any of your hadith?’ He answered, ‘It is said that a scholar’s own family are the least appreciative of him.’”
Hammad, narrating from Ayyub, said: “I heard a man say to Ikrimah, ‘So-and-so accused me of adultery in a dream.’ Ikrimah replied, ‘Flog his shadow with eighty lashes.’”
It is related from Ikrimah that, whenever he saw beggars on a Friday, he would curse them and say, “Ibn ʿAbbas used to curse them, saying: ‘You do not attend the Friday prayer or the ʿId except to beg and annoy the people. When the people are turning in longing toward Allah, your longing is toward other people.’”
I (the author) say: What, then, if such behaviour is combined with sufficient means to dispense with begging and with the strength to earn a living?
Certain people have censured this scholar for particular traits and opinions.
Hamid al-Tawil narrated from Ikrimah: When the dislike of cupping for someone who is fasting was mentioned in his presence, he said, “Then why not dislike relieving oneself as well?”