ʿAlī ibn Maḍāʾ reported: Hishām ibn Bahrām narrated to us, “I heard Muʿāfā say, ‘The Qur’an is the speech of Allah, uncreated.’

Al-Haytham ibn Khārija said, “I have never seen a man more courteous than Muʿāfā ibn ʿImrān. We have learned that Muʿāfā was among the famously generous—his liberality consumed his wealth. Whenever his revenues arrived, he would send to his companions an allowance that would suffice them for a full year, and they were thirty-four men.”

I say: He was one of the eminent figures of the Azd tribe.

Bishr al-Ḥāfī said, “In joy and in sorrow Muʿāfā was the same. The Khārijites killed two of his sons, yet no change was noticed in him. He gathered his friends, provided them with food, and then said, ‘May Allah reward you for So-and-So and So-and-So.’ ” A number of transmitters have related this from Bishr.

Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAmmār said, “I was with ʿĪsā ibn Yūnus when he asked me, ‘Have you heard anything from Muʿāfā?’ I replied, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘I do not think that anyone who has seen Muʿāfā and then gone to hear from someone else truly seeks Allah—exalted is He—with his knowledge.’”

Bishr ibn al-Ḥārith also related, “I heard Muʿāfā declare: ‘The scholars are unanimous that residing—meaning in Baghdad—is disliked.’”

Someone said to Bishr, “We notice that you are passionately devoted to Muʿāfā.” He replied, “And why should I not love him, when Sufyān al-Thawrī used to call him ‘the ruby’?”

ʿAlī ibn Ḥarb al-Ṭāʾī said, “I saw Muʿāfā with a white head and beard. He was wearing a coarse shirt whose sleeve was so short that the tips of his fingers showed.”

Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn said, “Muʿāfā is reliable.”