Ḥajjāj ibn Muḥammad said: I heard Shuʿbah relate that Mansūr once declared, “I wish I had written things down, even if it had left me liable for such-and-such a sum, for knowledge equal to my own has slipped away from me.”

Yaḥyā al-Qaṭṭān said, “Mansūr’s reports from Mujāhid are sounder than those of Ibn Abī Najīḥ.”

With this same chain al-Baghawī reported: Yaḥyā ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd narrated to us; Sharīk narrated to us; Mansūr narrated to us—“and had anyone other than Mansūr told me this ḥadīth, I would not have accepted it from him. I had asked him about it and he refused to relate it, but when familiarity grew between us, he was the one who volunteered it.” He said:

“Ribʿī narrated to us: ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with him) said, ‘The Quraysh once gathered around the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—and Suhayl ibn ʿAmr was among them. They said, ‘Muḥammad, our slaves have come over to you; send them back to us.’ He became so angry that it showed on his face …,” and he completed the ḥadīth. (1)

ʿAlī ibn Sahl narrated to us; ʿAffān narrated to us; Abū ʿAwānah narrated: “When Mansūr ibn al-Muʿtamir was appointed judge, two litigants would come before him, each setting out his claim in detail. Mansūr would say, ‘I have understood what you have both said, but I do not know what verdict to give you.’ This reached Khālid ibn ʿAbd Allāh—or Ibn Hubayrah—who had appointed him, and he remarked, ‘Judging is of benefit only to someone who approaches it with desire.’ In other words, he removed him from office.”

al-Akhnasī narrated to us; I heard Abū Bakr say: “I was sitting with Mansūr in his house when his mother—she was rather harsh with him—called out, ‘Mansūr, Ibn Hubayrah wants you to serve as judge and you refuse!’ He was resting his beard upon his chest and did not so much as raise his eyes to her.”

Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn said, “Mansūr is more reliable than al-Ḥakam.”