so I borrowed from Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd four hundred dinars that I needed for the upkeep of their land. (1)

Abū Nuʿaym, the ḥadīth master, devoted to Ibn Mahdī in his work “Al-Ḥilyah” an exceptionally long entry in which he narrated two hundred and eighty of Ibn Mahdī’s traditions. (2) Ibn Mahdī had met some of the younger Successors, such as Ayman ibn Nābil, Ṣāliḥ ibn Dirham, Yazīd ibn Abī Ṣāliḥ, and Jarīr ibn Ḥāzim.

Late in life he moved from Basra and taught ḥadīth in Isfahān.

Bundār said: “I heard ʿAbd al-Raḥmān say, ‘We know of no book in Islam, after the Book of Allah, more sound than Mālik’s Muwaṭṭaʾ.’”

Rustah related: “I heard ʿAbd al-Raḥmān say, ‘The leading scholars of the people in their era were: Sufyān in Kūfah, Ḥammād ibn Zayd in Basra, Mālik in the Ḥijāz, and al-Awzāʿī in Syria.’”

Abū Ḥātim ibn Ḥibbān said: ʿUmar ibn Muḥammad al-Hamadhānī narrated to us; ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī narrated to us; I heard ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī say, “Abū Khaldah narrated to us.” A man asked him, “Was he reliable?” He replied, “He was truthful, virtuous, and trustworthy; as for the designation thiqah, that is for Sufyān and Shuʿbah.”

Ibn Abī Ḥātim reported: Aḥmad ibn Sinān narrated to us; I heard Ibn Mahdī say, “I stayed with Mālik until he grew weary of me.

“One day I remarked, ‘I have been away from my family for this long absence, and I do not know what has happened to them since I left.’

“He responded, ‘My son, even though I live close to my family, I do not know what has happened to them since I walked out of the house.’”