He went on to cite another report of the same kind, saying, “The majority of al-Aʿmash’s narrations in Ḥafṣ’s possession were transmitted with the explicit formulas ‘he informed us’ and ‘I heard.’” (1)

Ibn ʿAmmār said, “Whenever Bishr al-Ḥāfī came to Ḥafṣ ibn Ghiyāth or to Abū Muʿāwiyah, he would withdraw to one side and refuse to listen to either of them, so I asked him about that. He replied, ‘Ḥafṣ is a judge, and Abū Muʿāwiyah is a Murjiʾ who calls people to his doctrine; I have no dealings with either of them.’ (2)

Ibrāhīm ibn Mahdī recounted, ‘I heard Ḥafṣ ibn Ghiyāth—while he was serving as judge in the Eastern District—say to a man who was asking about judicial matters, “So you want to become a judge? For a man to stick his finger into his eye, gouge it out, and throw it away would be better for him than to become a judge.”’ (3)

Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah said, ‘I heard Ḥafṣ ibn Ghiyāth declare, “By Allah, I did not accept the judgeship until carrion had become lawful for me.”’ (4)

When he died, he left not a single dirham; rather, he left debts amounting to nine hundred dirhams.

Sajjādah said, ‘People used to say, “The era of the judiciary was sealed with Ḥafṣ ibn Ghiyāth.”’ (5)