—find the courage to review it, and that is how ʿAbd al-Razzaq came to hear the report, having encountered it in the notebook of Maʿmar’s nephew.

I say: This anecdote is cut off, and Maʿmar was not a careless shaykh on whom something like this could pass unnoticed; he was a reliable memoriser, fully conversant with al-Zuhrī’s traditions.

Makkī ibn ʿAbdān said: Abū al-Azhar narrated to us, saying:

ʿAbd al-Razzaq had gone out to his village, so I set off to visit him at daybreak—so early that I feared for myself because of the darkness. I reached him before he left for the dawn prayer. When he came out and saw me he was pleased. After he had finished the prayer he summoned me, recited this ḥadīth to me, and singled me out with it, excluding my companions.

Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī told us; Sālim ibn al-Ḥasan told us; Abū al-Fath ibn Shātīl told us; al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī told us; ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yaḥyā told us; Ismāʿīl ibn Muḥammad al-Ṣaffār told us; Aḥmad ibn Manṣūr narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Razzaq narrated to us; Ibn Jurayj informed us; Ibn Abī Mulaykah informed me, saying:

I, together with Ibn Fayrūz—the freedman of ʿUthmān—entered upon Ibn ʿAbbās. Ibn Fayrūz said to him, ‘Abā ʿAbbās, “He directs the affair from heaven to earth; then it ascends to Him in a day…”’ (Q 32:5).

Ibn ʿAbbās asked, ‘Who are you?’

He replied, ‘I am ʿAbd Allāh ibn Fayrūz.’

Ibn ʿAbbās then recited, ‘He directs the affair from heaven to earth; then it ascends to Him in a day whose measure is a thousand years.’

Ibn Fayrūz said, ‘I wish to ask you, Abā ʿAbbās.’

He answered, ‘They are days Allah has named; He knows best about them. I dislike to speak concerning them without knowledge.’

Ibn Abī Mulaykah said: Time went by until I entered upon Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib. He was asked about the verse but did not know what to say. So I said to him, ‘Shall I not tell you what I heard from Ibn ʿAbbās?’ When I informed him, Ibn al-Musayyib said to the questioner, ‘This is Ibn ʿAbbās—he has shown true piety…’