Abū al-Ḥārith.’ I took the notebook from him and went home. After performing the prayer I lit the lamp and wrote: ‘In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Ever Merciful.’ Then I wrote: ‘So-and-so son of So-and-so.’

My soul then prodded me, so again I wrote: ‘So-and-so son of So-and-so.’

He said: While I was doing that, someone came to me and said, ‘I adjure you by Allah, O Saʿīd! Would you approach a people who dealt with Allah in secret only to expose them before a human being? Al-Layth has died and Shuʿayb has died; will they not return to Allah (1), the One with Whom they dealt?’

So I rose and wrote nothing further. When morning came I went to al-Layth. His face brightened on seeing me. I handed him the notebook; he opened it and found nothing in it but: ‘In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Ever Merciful.’ He asked, ‘What is the matter?’

I informed him truthfully of what had happened. He let out a loud cry, whereupon the people from the surrounding study-circles gathered and questioned him. He replied, ‘It is nothing but good.’

Then he turned to me and said, ‘O Saʿīd, you perceived it and were kept from it. You have spoken the truth. Al-Layth is dead—will they not return to Allah? (2)’

Miqdām ibn Dāwūd said: I saw Saʿīd al-Ādam, and it was said that he was one of the abdāl, the pious “substitutes.”

Abū Ṣāliḥ said: In Iraq al-Layth would read to the hadith scholars from an upper loft, while the book was in my hand. When he finished, I would throw it down to them and they would copy it. (3)

ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Shuʿayb narrated from his father, who said: It was said to al-Layth, ‘May Allah allow us to benefit from you; we hear hadith from you that are not found in your books.’

He replied, ‘Is everything that is in my breast recorded in my books? If I were to write down all that I carry inside, this mount would not be able to bear it.’

This was transmitted by the ḥāfiẓ Ibn Yūnus: Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥārith narrated to us, Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Malik narrated to us, from his father.