Abū Kurayb reported: Abū Bakr narrated to us, saying that ʿĀṣim told me, “I was ill for two years. When I recovered, I recited the Qur’an and did not mispronounce a single letter.”
Minjāb ibn al-Ḥārith said: Sharīk narrated to us, saying, “ʿĀṣim was known for his precise articulation of the hamzah (glottal stop), the madd (prolongation), and a firm, forceful style of recitation.”
Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, from Shimr ibn ʿAṭiyyah, said: “Two men stood out among us: one taught the Qur’an according to the reading of Zayd—that was ʿĀṣim; the other taught according to the reading of ʿAbd Allāh—that was al-Aʿmash.”
Aḥmad al-ʿIjlī said, “ʿĀṣim was a man of the Sunnah and of Qur’an recitation, a leading authority in the Qur’an. He came to Basra and taught its people. Salām Abū al-Mundhir read under him; he was an adherent of the ʿUthmānī position.”
Al-Aʿmash studied under him in his youth, then later read with Yaḥyā ibn Waththāb.
Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh related, “ʿĀṣim was a grammarian of polished speech, well known for his eloquence. He, al-Aʿmash, and Abū Ḥuṣayn al-Asadī were all blind.”
One day a man was leading ʿĀṣim; he stumbled and fell heavily, yet ʿĀṣim neither scolded him nor uttered a word of reproach.
Ḥammād ibn Zayd, on the authority of ʿĀṣim, said, “We used to visit Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī while we were still adolescent boys.”
The author comments: This makes it clear that he learned the Qur’an from al-Sulamī during his youth.
Abū Bakr said that ʿĀṣim remarked, “Whoever masters only a single aspect of Arabic has mastered nothing.”
He then added, “No one taught me even one letter except Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, and he had read with ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with him). When I left him, I would review my recitation with Zirr ibn Ḥubaysh, who had read with Ibn Masʿūd.” I said to ʿĀṣim, “You have truly fortified your chain.”
Yaḥyā ibn Ādam transmitted this from Abū Bakr and remarked, “I cannot count how many times I heard Abū Bakr relate this from ʿĀṣim.”
A group of transmitters also related—from ʿAmr ibn al-Ṣabbāḥ, from Ḥafṣ al-Ghāḍirī, from