—the eastern side.

He belonged to the class of practising scholars and just judges, and in jurisprudence he followed Abū Ḥanīfah. He related ḥadith from Hishām ibn ʿUrwah, al-Aʿmash, Mujālid, Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr ibn ʿAṭāʾ, and Ibn Abī Laylā. Among those who transmitted from him were Mūsā ibn Dāwūd and Asad al-Sunnah. His transmissions are few, for he died while still in the prime of life.

Al-Khaṭīb said: “He was a learned, ascetic man who judged for a time with rectitude and probity, after which he requested to be relieved of the judiciary and was excused.” Al-Nasāʾī graded him trustworthy, and Abū Dāwūd said, “His ḥadith should be written down.” ʿAbbās al-Dūrī reported from Yaḥyā [ibn Maʿīn]: “Trustworthy.” Aḥmad ibn Abī Maryam likewise narrated from him, yet in the report of ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Junayd al-Rāzī he said: “He is weak in ḥadith.”

It is said that the reason he left the bench was that, while deliberating a case, one of the litigants sent him a gift of fresh dates. He returned the dates and reprimanded the man, but when he judged between that man and his opponent the next day, ʿĀfiyah remarked, “The two are no longer equal in my heart.” He then reported the incident to the caliph, saying, “This is my state even though I did not accept the gift—how would it be if I had accepted it?!” So the caliph relieved him of his duties (1).

He died a little after 160 AH.