Ibrāhīm ibn Yūsuf al-Sabīʿī, and he added, “Ibrāhīm never heard anything from his own father.”

Aḥmad ibn Dāwud al-Ḥuddānī relates: “I heard ʿĪsā ibn Yūnus say, ‘Among those of my age—or, he said, my peers—no one knew grammar better than I did. A touch of conceit crept into me because of that, so I abandoned it.’

“He also said: I once saw Faraj, the servant of the Commander of the Faithful, come to ʿĪsā while he was sitting at the doorway of his house in Darb al-Ḥadath. Faraj spoke to him, yet ʿĪsā neither lifted his head nor even glanced at him, and the man left in humiliation.

“Abū Saʿīd al-Ashajj told us, transmitting from ʿUmar ibn Abī Ruṭayl, from Abū Bilāl al-Ashʿarī, from Jaʿfar al-Barmakī, who said: ‘We have never seen among the reciters anyone like ʿĪsā ibn Yūnus. We sent for him and he came to us in ar-Raqqah, but he fell ill before he could set out on the return journey.

‘I said to him, “Abū ʿAmr, we have ordered ten thousand for you.”

‘He replied, “Hmm.”

‘I said, “Fifty thousand.”

‘He said, “I have no need of it.”

‘I said, “Why not? By Allah, I am determined to honor you with it; by Allah, it is one hundred thousand!”

‘He answered, “No, by Allah. I will not have the people of knowledge saying that I took a price for the Sunnah. Had this reached me before you sent for me, perhaps; but in exchange for ḥadith—never! Not even for a sip of water, nor for a single ihlīlaja fruit (1).”’

Aḥmad ibn Dāwud further said: “I heard Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd al-Ṭanāfisī say to the students of ḥadith, ‘Why do you not emulate ʿĪsā ibn Yūnus? Whenever he came to al-Aʿmash, surrounded by both young men and elders, they would observe him—his comportment and dignified bearing.’”

Mahmūd ibn Ghailān reported from Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd, who said:

‘I saw the companions…’