let him not attend our gathering; and whoever espouses the opinion of so-and-so, let him likewise stay away from our assembly.

So I went out and delivered the message to them.

Abu Ḥātim said, “He is trustworthy, reliable, and of immense benefit to Islam.”

It is related that Hārūn al-Rashīd once seized a heretic in order to execute him. The man protested, “What will you do about the thousand hadiths I have fabricated?” Hārūn replied, “Enemy of Allah! How will your forgeries stand when Abu Isḥāq al-Fazārī and Ibn al-Mubārak sift through them, extracting them letter by letter?”

Abu Dāwūd al-Tayālisī said, “Abu Isḥāq al-Fazārī died while there was no one on the face of the earth better than he.”

Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah reported, “By Allah, I have never seen anyone I would place ahead of Abu Isḥāq al-Fazārī.”

ʿAṭāʾ al-Khaffāf said, “I was with al-Awzāʿī when he wished to write to Abu Isḥāq al-Fazārī. He told his scribe, ‘Begin with his name, for—by Allah—he is better than I am.’ ”

ʿAlī ibn Bakkār the ascetic remarked, “I met Ibn ʿAwn and those who came after him, yet among them I found none more learned in jurisprudence than Abu Isḥāq al-Fazārī.”

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī said, “If you see a Syrian who loves al-Awzāʿī and Abu Isḥāq, rest assured about him.”

Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah said, “I entered upon Hārūn, and he said, ‘Abu Isḥāq, you occupy a noble station and great honor.’ I replied, ‘Commander of the Faithful, that will avail me nothing in the Hereafter.’ ”

Abu Usāmah related, “I heard al-Fuḍayl ibn ʿIyāḍ say: ‘I saw the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in…’”} }}