“I came to him in Kūfa, and he began dictating to me; it soon became clear that he did not know what he was saying.”

Sulaymān ibn Abī Shaykh said: My father related to me:
“When Sharik was sent to take up the judgeship of Ahwāz, he sat on the bench but remained silent until he rose, then he fled and went into hiding. It is also said that he concealed himself with the governor.”

Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Umawī told me: “I was with al-Ḥasan ibn ʿUmārah when news reached him that Sharik had run away, and he said, ‘The wretch thought the judgeship of Ahwāz beneath him.’ ”

Muḥammad ibn Yazīd al-Rifāʿī reports: Ḥamdān al-Aṣbahānī told me:
“I was with Sharik when one of al-Mahdī’s sons came in. The young man leaned back and asked him about a ḥadīth. Sharik ignored him and turned toward us. He repeated the question, and Sharik did the same. The prince said, ‘It seems you belittle the caliph’s children.’ Sharik replied, ‘No, but knowledge is too noble, in the sight of its people, to be squandered.’ The prince then knelt on his knees and asked again, whereupon Sharik said, ‘This is how knowledge is sought.’ ”

ʿAbbād ibn al-ʿAwwām said that Sharik used to remark, “A transmitted report that contains some weakness is dearer to me than their personal opinions.”

ʿAlī ibn Sahl narrates: I heard ʿAffān say, “Sharik used to dye his beard red.”

It is also said that Sharik was brought before al-Mahdī, who told him, “One of three things is unavoidable: either you accept the judgeship, or you educate my children and relate ḥadīth to them, or you share a meal with me.” After thinking for a while, Sharik said, “The meal is the lightest for me.”

Al-Mahdī thereupon ordered the cook to prepare assorted dishes of marrow set with sugar and other delicacies, and Sharik ate. The cook then said, “Commander of the Faithful, he will never prosper after this.” Yet after that Sharik taught the princes, narrated ḥadīth to them, and took up the judgeship.