ummah. Mālik then told me that Ibn Sīrīn had become infirm and was no longer able to make the pilgrimage, so he used to instruct anyone who went on ḥajj to observe al-Qāsim’s conduct, his dress, and his overall demeanor. They would convey their observations to him, and he would follow al-Qāsim’s example.

Muṣʿab al-Zubayrī said, “Al-Qāsim was among the choicest of the Successors.”

Al-ʿIjlī said, “He was one of the elite of the Successors and their jurists.” He also said, “A Madinan, a Successor (1), trustworthy, scrupulous, a righteous man.”

Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd said: I heard al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad say, “For a man to remain ignorant after he has come to know Allah’s right upon him is better for him than to speak about what he does not know.”

Hishām ibn ʿAmmār reported from Mālik that a governor of Medina once came to al-Qāsim and asked him about a certain matter. He replied, “Part of a man’s self-respect is that he say nothing except what his knowledge fully encompasses.”

Abū al-Zinād said, “Al-Qāsim would respond only in matters that were clear-cut.”

Ibn Wahb narrated from Mālik that ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz said, “If authority in this affair were mine to bestow, I would entrust it to no one but al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad.” Mālik added, “Yet Yazīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik had already been named heir-apparent before that.”

He also said, “Al-Qāsim seldom related hadiths and seldom issued legal opinions. If a dispute arose between him and another person, he would say, ‘The matter over which you wish to contend with me is yours. If it rightfully belongs to you, then take it and do not thank me for it; and if it belongs to me, I release you from any claim to it—it is yours.’”

Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Bakrī narrated from his father that al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad said, “Allah has placed in the loyal, upright friend a substitute for the negligent, disobedient kinsman.”