staying in the hamlets of Shāhī for three whole days,
with no provisions save a few soaked crusts and water (1).

Sulaymān said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Sharik related to me:
“Sharik’s mother was from Khurāsān. A Bedouin once saw her riding a donkey with the young Sharik seated in front of her and exclaimed, ‘You are carrying a boulder among boulders!’ ”

Mūsā ibn ʿĪsā said to Sharik, “Abu ʿAbd Allāh, they have removed you from the judgeship; we have never seen a judge dismissed before!”
Sharik replied, “Kings themselves are appointed and deposed,” alluding to the fact that Mūsā’s own father had been removed from the position of heir apparent.

Sulaymān continued: Abū Muṭarrif told me that Sharik said to him,
“I was brought before Abū Jaʿfar. He said, ‘I have entrusted you with the judgeship of Kūfa.’ I replied, ‘I am not skilled.’ He retorted, ‘I have heard what you did with ʿĪsā, and by Allah I am not like ʿĪsā. O Rabīʿ, keep him with you until he agrees.’ I left with al-Rabīʿ, who said, ‘He will not excuse you.’ So I accepted.”

Ibn Abī Khaythama said: Sulaymān also informed me that ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muṣʿab al-Zubayrī met Sharik and asked, “I hear you speak ill of Abū Bakr and ʿUmar?”
Sharik replied, “By Allah, I do not disparage al-Zubayr; how, then, could I speak ill of Abū Bakr and ʿUmar?”

Sulaymān further reported from his father:
It was said to Abū Shaybah the judge, “Sharik has been appointed judge of Kūfa.” He responded, “Praise be to Allah who did not make him one of Ḥammād’s disciples.”

Ibn al-Madīnī transmitted from Yaḥyā al-Qaṭṭān, who said,
“Narrating from Sharik pleases me more than narrating from Mūsā ibn ʿUbaydah.” Yet he still deemed Sharik weak and said: