Yaḥyā al-Qaṭṭān transmitted from Sufyān al-Thawrī who said, “Had you looked at Manṣūr ibn al-Muʿtamir you would have thought he was about to die at that very moment.”

Zāʾidah said, “Manṣūr refused to take up the judgeship. I entered upon him while shackles had been brought to bind him. Two litigants came in and sat down, yet he neither questioned them nor spoke to them. Someone then said to Yūsuf ibn ʿUmar, ‘Even if you were to tear his flesh to pieces, he would still never accept the office of judge.’ So Yūsuf left him alone.”

Yaḥyā al-Qaṭṭān related from Shuʿbah: “I asked Manṣūr and Ayyūb about reading from a written text when transmitting ḥadīth, and they both replied, ‘It is sound.’”

Ibn Maʿīn said, “I heard Jarīr say, ‘Whenever Manṣūr saw that I carried a slip of paper, he would say, “Do not write from me.” So I would leave him and go to Mughīrah instead.’”

al-ʿAlāʾ ibn Sālim said, “Manṣūr used to pray on his rooftop. When he passed away, a young servant said to his mother, ‘Mother, the beam that used to stand on the roof of so-and-so’s house—I can no longer see it!’ She answered, ‘My son, that was no beam; that was Manṣūr, and he has died—may Allah have mercy on him.’”

Khala f ibn Tamīm narrated to us from Zāʾidah that Manṣūr fasted for forty consecutive years, spending their nights in prayer. He would weep so much that his mother would ask, ‘My son, have you killed someone?’ He would reply, ‘I know best what I have done with myself.’ Then, at daybreak, he would apply kohl to his eyes, oil his hair, brighten his lips, and go out to meet the people.

Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah mentioned Manṣūr and remarked, “His eyesight had grown dim from excessive weeping.”

al-Mufaḍḍal said, “Ibn Hubayrah imprisoned Manṣūr for a month trying to compel him to accept the judgeship, but he refused. It is also said that he even brought shackles to bind him with, and then let him go.”

Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allah al-ʿIjlī stated, “Manṣūr was the most firmly grounded traditionist in Kūfah—there was no disagreement about that. He was righteous, devout, and when he was coerced into the judgeship he served for only two months.”

He added, “And concerning him …”