Ḥibbān said: He was so absorbed in devotion that he lost sight of precision, and consequently a great many anomalous reports appear in his narrations.

Ibn Abī al-Ḥawārī relates: Abū Sulaymān told me that ʿAbd al-Wāḥid was struck with paralysis (falij). He pleaded with Allah to release him at the time of wudu (ablution), so whenever he wished to perform wudu he would rise and walk, but once he returned to his bed the paralysis would seize him again.

From the same source: he said, “Hold fast to bread and salt, for they melt the fat around the kidneys and strengthen certitude.”

Muʿādh ibn Ziyād said: I heard ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Zayd more than once declare, “It would not delight me to own everything contained in Basra for two small coins.”

A man reported: ʿAbd al-Wāḥid was giving an exhortation when someone cried out, “Enough! You have torn the veil from my heart.” ʿAbd al-Wāḥid did not turn toward him but continued preaching; the man gurgled (1) and died, and I attended his funeral.

Mismaʿ ibn ʿĀṣim said: I was present while ʿAbd al-Wāḥid was admonishing the people, and four persons died in that gathering.

Ḥuṣayn al-Wazzān said: If ʿAbd al-Wāḥid’s anguish (2) were divided among all the inhabitants of Basra, it would suffice them. He would stand at his prayer niche as though a voice were speaking to him directly.

Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Khuzāʿī said: ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Zayd performed the dawn prayer with the same ablution he had kept from the late-night prayer for forty years.

I (the author) say: He distanced himself from ʿAmr ibn ʿUbayd because of the latter’s Muʿtazilite leanings, upheld the legitimacy of earning one’s livelihood, and was linked to a measure of the Qadarite doctrine, though it never became widely known. Instead, he devoted himself to discussing the various schools