Aḥmad said, “Ibn al-Mubārak would narrate from a written text, and whoever narrates from a written text is seldom guilty of many omissions. Wakiʿ, however, narrated from memory, so lapses would occur—how dependable can a man’s memory be?”

113 – Ḍaygham ibn Mālik Abū Bakr al-Rāsibī al-Baṣrī *
The ascetic, the exemplar, the devout servant of God, Abū Bakr al-Rāsibī of Basra.
He learned from the Successors.
Those who transmitted from him include Ibn Mālik, Sayyār ibn Ḥātim, and Abū Ayyūb, the client of Ḍaygham.

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī said, “I have never seen anyone like Ḍaygham in piety and virtue.”

Ibn al-Aʿrābī said, “His daily and nightly portion of prayer was four hundred cycles; he prayed until his back became bent, and he was among the fearful who wept often.”

ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī said, “Ḍaygham buried his books. He would sleep for one-third of the night and worship for two-thirds.”

Ḍaygham died in the year 180 AH—he and his companion, the worshipper Busr ibn Manṣūr, on the same day.

From him it is related: “They were able to persevere in strenuous devotion because of the sweetness of worship that entered their hearts.”

114 – al-Fuḍayl ibn ʿIyāḍ ibn Masʿūd ibn Bishr al-Tamīmī ** (Kh, M, D, S, T)
The Imām, the exemplar, the reliable authority, Shaykh al-Islām, Abū ʿAlī