Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal said, “In the days of Ibn al-Mubārak there was no one more zealous in seeking knowledge than he.”

Shuʿbah said, “No one who ever came to us was the equal of Ibn al-Mubārak.”

Abū Usāmah remarked, “I have never seen a man who pursued knowledge more earnestly than Ibn al-Mubārak; among the hadith scholars he was like the Commander of the Faithful among the people.”

Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿĪsā ibn Mā sarjis, Ibn al-Mubārak’s client, related: “A group that included al-Faḍl ibn Mūsā and Makhlad ibn al-Ḥusayn gathered and said, ‘Come, let us list Ibn al-Mubārak’s qualities in the various fields of goodness.’ They counted: knowledge, jurisprudence, refined conduct, grammar, philology, asceticism, eloquence, poetry, night-vigil prayer, worship, pilgrimage, military expedition, courage, horsemanship, physical strength, refraining from speech about what does not concern him, fairness, and seldom contradicting his companions.”

Nuʿaym ibn Ḥammād said: “A man said to Ibn al-Mubārak, ‘I recited the Qur’an last night in a single rakʿah.’ He replied, ‘Yet I know a man who, all last night, kept repeating the verse, “Rivalry in worldly increase distracts you” (102:1) until dawn; he could not go beyond it’—meaning himself.”

Al-ʿAbbās ibn Muṣʿab narrated—through Ibrāhīm ibn Isḥāq al-Bunānī—from Ibn al-Mubārak, who said, “I acquired knowledge from four thousand shaykhs and transmitted from one thousand of them.” Al-ʿAbbās added, “I followed up on their names until I had documented eight hundred of his teachers.”

Ḥabīb al-Jallāb said: “I asked Ibn al-Mubārak, ‘What is the best thing a person can be granted?’ He answered, ‘Innate intelligence.’ I said, ‘And if he has none?’ He said, ‘Good manners.’ I said, ‘And if he has none?’ He said, ‘A compassionate brother to consult.’ I said, ‘And if he has none?’ He said, ‘Long-kept silence.’ I said, ‘And if he has none?’ He said, ‘A swift death.’”