He struck his mount and galloped between the two lines, then vanished. We were unaware of anything until, all of a sudden, I saw him back in exactly the same spot as before. He said to me, “Abdullāh! If you tell anyone about this while I am still alive …”—and he uttered a stern warning.

Abū Ṣāliḥ al-Farrāʾ said: I asked Ibn al-Mubārak about writing down knowledge, and he replied, “Had it not been for writing, we would have remembered nothing.”

I heard him say, “Ink on one’s clothes is the perfume of the scholars.”

He also said, “The agreement of neighbours on a matter is dearer to me than the testimony of two upright witnesses.”

It is reported that Ibn al-Mubārak passed by a monk who was sitting between a cemetery and a rubbish-heap and said, “Monk, before you lies the treasure of men and the treasure of wealth—and both provide a lesson.”

Ibn al-Mubārak studied jurisprudence under Abū Ḥanīfah and is counted among his students.

ʿAbdullāh was wealthy and grateful; his capital amounted to about 400,000.

Hibbān ibn Mūsā said, “I saw Ibn al-Mubārak’s food-tray being carried on a cart.”

Abū Isḥāq al-Ṭalqānī said, “I saw two camels loaded with roast chickens for Ibn al-Mubārak’s provisions.”

ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb narrated from Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Sahm: “I was with Ibn al-Mubārak; each day a kid would be roasted for him and falūdhaj (1) prepared. Someone remarked on this, and he said, ‘I have handed my agent one thousand dinars and instructed him to provide generously for us.’ ”

Al-Ḥasan ibn Ḥammād said: “Abū Usāmah entered upon Ibn al-Mubārak and found …”

(1) falūdhaj: a rich, sweet pudding made with honey and almonds.