and a parchment so that he might record a ḥadith on it. Al-Aʿmash therefore wrote on the sheet: “Bismi Allāh al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm (In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful). Say: He is Allah, One,” then sent it back to him.

The man returned a message: “You son of an immoral woman! Did you think I do not know how to write the Book of Allah?”

Al-Aʿmash replied: “Did you imagine that I traffic in ḥadith?”

ʿĪsā ibn Yūnus said: “Guests once visited al-Aʿmash. He brought out two loaves, and they ate them. He then went inside, produced half a bundle of clover, set it on the tray, and said, ‘You have eaten the provision of my household; this is the provision of my sheep—so eat it.’

“We went out for a funeral, and a man was leading him. When we were returning, the man steered him away; when they reached the open ground he said, ‘Do you know where you are? You are in the cemetery of such-and-such, and I will not take you back until you fill my tablets with ḥadith.’

“Al-Aʿmash said, ‘Write.’ When the tablets were filled, the man returned him. When he entered Kūfah he handed the tablets to someone else. As soon as al-Aʿmash reached his door he grabbed him, saying, ‘Take the tablets away from that reprobate!’ The man replied, ‘Abū Muḥammad, it is already too late.’ When al-Aʿmash lost hope, he said, ‘Everything I narrated to you is false.’ The man answered, ‘You fear Allah too much to lie.’”

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Idrīs said: “I asked al-Aʿmash, ‘Abū Muḥammad, why do you not have your hair cut?’ He said, ‘Because barbers are excessively inquisitive.’ I said, ‘Then I will bring you a barber who will not speak to you…’