Aḥmad ibn Abī al-Ḥawārī relates: Abū ʿIṣmah told us, “I was present with Sufyān and al-Fuḍayl ibn ʿIyāḍ. Sufyān said to al-Fuḍayl, ‘Abū ʿAlī! What a man has departed!’—meaning Ibn al-Mubārak. Al-Fuḍayl replied, ‘Abū Muḥammad! And is anyone left after Ibn al-Mubārak before whom a person would still feel ashamed (1)?’

Muḥammad ibn Makhlad reports: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn Ḥumayd told us, saying, I heard ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam remark, “When Ibn al-Mubārak died, it reached me that Hārūn, the Commander of the Faithful, said, ‘The leader of the scholars has passed away.’ (2)”

Al-Musayyab ibn Wāḍiḥ says: I heard Abū Isḥāq al-Fazārī state, “Ibn al-Mubārak is the imam of all the Muslims.” (3)

I (the author) say: Abū Isḥāq’s unrestricted wording is to be understood as referring to the Muslims of his own time.

Al-Musayyab continues: “I saw Abū Isḥāq seated in front of Ibn al-Mubārak, asking him questions.”

Abū Wahb Aḥmad ibn Rāfiʿ—the copyist of Suwayd ibn Naṣr—relates: I heard ʿAlī ibn Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm say, “Ibn ʿUyaynah declared, ‘I examined the condition of the Companions and that of ʿAbd Allāh, and I found no advantage they had over him except their companionship of the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—and their fighting alongside him.’ (4)”

Maḥmūd ibn Walān said: I heard ʿAmmār ibn al-Ḥasan praising Ibn al-Mubārak and saying: