—can readily be recognized by anyone who suspects that they actually reach him through Thābit rather than directly from Anas, for Ḥumayd narrated both from Anas and from Thābit on Anas’s authority. Consequently, much of what he attributes straight to Anas includes reports he really heard from Thābit but relates with tadlīs as though from Anas—and more than one transmitter practised tadlīs from teachers whom they had personally met.

Ibn Saʿd said: Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Tamīmī informed us; Abū Khālid al-Dārī told me, on the authority of Ḥammād ibn Salama, that Iyās ibn Muʿāwiya once took me by the hand when I was still a boy and said, “You will not die before you have taken up story-telling. I said the very same words to your maternal uncle—meaning Ḥumayd.” He did not die until he had become a storyteller. Abū Khālid added, “I then asked Ḥammād, ‘Did you yourself become a storyteller?’ He replied, ‘Yes.’ ”

Muʿādh ibn Muʿādh reported that Ḥumayd said to al-Battī—meaning ʿUthmān—“When people come to you, try to impose a single position on them—no, rather, take something from this side and something from that, and reconcile them.” Al-Battī replied, “I cannot cope with your magic (1).” Ḥumayd was renowned for reconciling the people of Basra.

Quraysh ibn Anas narrated from Ḥabīb ibn al-Shahīd: “I was sitting at the door of Khālid ibn Burzayn when a man from Syria arrived. Iyās said to him, ‘If you want reconciliation, go to Ḥumayd al-Ṭawīl. Do you know what he will say to you? He will say, “Concede something, and let your companion have the same.” ’ ”

Yaḥyā al-Qaṭṭān said: “Ḥumayd died while standing in prayer, whereas ʿAbbād ibn Manṣūr died while lying on top of his wife.”