Idrīs ibn ʿAlī narrated to us; al-Sindī ibn ʿAbdwayh narrated to us; Ibrāhīm ibn Ṭahmān, from Manṣūr ibn al-Muʿtamir, from al-Aʿmash, from ʿAdī ibn Thābit, from Zirr, from ʿAlī:
“I heard the Prophet ﷺ say, ‘O ʿAlī! None loves you except a believer, and none hates you except a hypocrite.’ (1)
This report is found with a chain five ranks higher in Juzʾ al-Dhuhli and elsewhere.
Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿImrān narrated to us; Abū Yaḥyā al-Ḥimmānī, from al-Aʿmash:
“I heard Anas reciting, ‘Indeed, the hours of the night are more intense for devotion and more correct in speech.’
Someone said to him, ‘O Abū Ḥamzah—“…and more upright in speech.”’
He replied, ‘“More upright” (aqwamu) and “more correct” (aṣwabu) are one and the same.’ (2)
It is also said that al-Aʿmash would sometimes come out to his students with the baker’s apron still hanging from his shoulder.
On one occasion he wore a fur cloak inside-out. Someone remarked, ‘Abū Muḥammad, if you turned the wool to the inside it would be warmer for you!’ He answered, ‘I had already offered that bit of advice to the ram.’
(1) Related by Muslim, no. 132, in the Book of Faith, chapter: “Proof that love for the Ansar and for Ali is part of faith”; by al-Tirmidhi, no. 3737, in the Book of Merits, chapter: “None loves Ali except a believer”; by al-Nasai, 8/116-117, in the Book of Faith, chapter: “The mark of the hypocrite”; and by Ibn Majah, no. 114, in the Introduction, chapter: “The virtues of Ali ibn Abi Talib.”
(2) Cited by al-Baghdadi in his Tarikh, 9/4, through the chain Ahmad b. Ali al-Abar → Jaʿfar b. Muhammad b. Imran al-Thalabi → Abu Yahya al-Hamani → al-Aʿmash, who said: “I heard Anas….” This version explicitly states that al-Aʿmash heard directly from Anas. All the transmitters are trustworthy, except that Abu Yahya al-Hamani (ʿAbd al-Hamid b. ʿAbd al-Rahman) is prone to error, as noted in Taqrib. Other routes omit the phrase indicating al-Aʿmash’s direct hearing from Anas. Abu Yaʿla al-Mawsili also transmitted the report through Ibrahim b. Saʿid al-Jawhari → Abu Usama → al-Aʿmash: Anas b. Malik recited the verse inna nashiʾata al-layl hiya ashaddu wataʾan wa-aswabu qilan (Q 73:6). A man said to him, “We recite it wa-aqwamu qilan.” Anas replied, “Aswabu, aqwamu, ahyaʾu and similar expressions all carry the same meaning.”
Al-Tabari also recorded the narration, 1/22 and 29/130-131, through…