Whenever he had narrated three reports, he would turn to the hadith students and say, “The flood has come upon you, and today I am like al-Aʿmash.”

I add: Among the useful notes I took from Abū ʿAmr Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Naysābūrī is what Abū Turāb Muḥammad ibn al-Faraj related to us. He said:

“I heard Khālid ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Kūfī say: ‘In the alley where Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh lived there was a dog. Whenever it saw someone carrying an inkwell it would charge at him, so the hadith students threw it some food and it died. When Abū Bakr came out and saw the dog lying dead he said, ‘We belong to Allah! The one who used to enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong is gone.’”

Yaḥyā ibn Ādam said that Abū Bakr told him:

“I learned the Qur’an from ʿĀṣim the way a small boy learns from his teacher; he had to endure a great deal from me. I master nothing but his recitation, and these variant readings I am telling you I learned directly from ʿĀṣim by diligent study.”

In another report Abū Bakr said, “I came to ʿĀṣim when I was still a youth.”

Hārūn ibn Ḥātim said: I heard a man ask Abū Bakr, “Did you study under anyone besides ʿĀṣim?” He replied, “Yes—under ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib and Aslam al-Minqarī.” (This chain is not sound.)

Yaḥyā ibn Ādam also related from Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh:

“I learned the Qur’an from ʿĀṣim five verses at a time. I never learned from anyone else, nor did I recite to anyone else.”

Yaḥyā further transmitted from him:

“I continued to attend ʿĀṣim for roughly three years—in the heat, the cold, and the rain—until I sometimes felt embarrassed before the people of the Mosque of Banū Kāhil. ʿĀṣim once said to me, ‘Give thanks to Allah, exalted be He, for you came here not knowing a thing.’ I replied, ‘I had only just left the kuttāb (elementary Qur’an school) and then came straight to you.’”