with Ayyub, and Maʿmar was with us in the mosque. A man came and asked Ayyub about someone who had slandered another, then swore—pledging the charity of all his wealth—that he would not relent until the prescribed punishment (ḥadd) was carried out on him.

Intercession was sought with him about the matter, and even his mother pleaded with him.

Ayyub kept pointing to Maʿmar and saying, “This man will give you the ruling on the oath.”

When the questioner pressed him, Maʿmar said, “I heard Ibn Tawus, from his father, allowing him to forgo it.”

Ayyub said, “And I heard ʿAtaʾ granting a concession to leave it.”

ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿAmr al-Raqqi said: “I was in Basra waiting for Ayyub to return from Mecca. He arrived travelling together with Maʿmar ibn Rashid—Maʿmar had come to visit his mother.

ʿAbd al-Razzaq said: It was said to al-Thawri, ‘What kept you from (studying with) al-Zuhri?’ He replied, ‘A shortage of dirhams, and Maʿmar has spared us (1).’

Al-Waqidi said: ‘I used to accompany Maʿmar, and al-Thawri was with us. We would leave the presence of Abu ʿUrwah and narrate from him.’

Ahmad, in his Musnad, said: ‘ʿAbd al-Razzaq narrated to us; he said:

Ibn Jurayj remarked, “Maʿmar has drunk of knowledge from the fullest vessels (2).”’

Ibn Qutaybah explained: ‘al-Anquʿ is the plural of naqʿ; here it refers to what is steeped.’

Ahmad ibn ʿAbd Allah al-ʿIjli said: ‘Maʿmar is trustworthy, a righteous man—originally from Basra, he settled in Sanʿaʾ, married there, and Sufyan al-Thawri travelled to him.’

Yahya ibn Maʿin said that Hisham ibn Yusuf stated: ‘Maʿmar stayed with us for twenty years, and we never saw a book in his possession—meaning he transmitted to them from memory.’

Ibn Maʿin also said: ‘It reached me that Ayyub accompanied Maʿmar on his departure and prepared provisions for him.’