al-Faḍl ibn al-Rabīʿ, whose rank was just below his. He called out to me, “Baqiyyah! Hand the Commander of the Faithful the inkwell that is next to you.” I replied, “You give it to him yourself, Hāmān.” He said, “Did you hear what he just called me, O Commander of the Faithful?” The caliph answered, “Quiet! You are not yet his Hāmān for me to be his Pharaoh.”

Muḥammad ibn Muṣaffā relates that Baqiyyah said: Shuʿbah once said to me, “Baḥḥir lanā, baḥḥir lanā”—that is, “Narrate to us from Baḥīr ibn Saʿd.”

Ḥaywah ibn Shurayḥ likewise reports that Baqiyyah said: Shuʿbah said to me, “Present me with the ḥadith of Baḥīr.” So I sent it to him—meaning Baḥīr’s written collection—but Shuʿbah died before it reached him.

ʿUmar ibn Sinān al-Manbijī narrates: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn al-Ḍaḥḥāk told us; he said that Baqiyyah told him: Shuʿbah said to me, “Abū Yuḥmid, we have keener insight into ḥadith and greater knowledge of it than you people.” I replied, “Do you really say that, Abū Bisṭām?” He said, “Yes.” I then asked, “What is your ruling on a man who is struck on the nose and loses his sense of smell?” He pondered, looked about, and said, “What do you say, Abū Yuḥmid?” I answered, “Ibn Dhī Ḥamāyah narrated to us that our elders used to say: Mustard is placed in his nostril; if it makes him react, we know he is lying, and if he does not react, then he is truthful.”

Ibn Abī al-Sarī al-ʿAsqalanī transmits from Baqiyyah that Shuʿbah said to me, “How excellent is your narration, yet it has no pillars.” I retorted, “It is your own narrations that lack pillars: you bring me Ghālib al-Qaṭṭān, Ḥumayd al-Aʿraj, and Abū al-Tayyāḥ, whereas I bring you Muḥammad ibn Ziyād al-Alhānī, Abū Bakr ibn Abī Maryam al-Ghassānī, and Ṣafwān ibn ʿAmr al-Saksakī. Abū Bisṭām, what would you say if a man struck another and robbed him of his sense of smell?” He replied, “I have nothing on that…”—and the narrative continues.

Abū al-Faḍl Aḥmad ibn Hibat Allah ibn Tāj al-Umanaʾ informed us, through ʿAbd al-Raḥīm ibn Abī Saʿd; ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Furāwī narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd Allāh narrated to us