Al-Maimūnī said: I heard Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal remark, “There are six people for whom I pray in the pre-dawn hours; one of them is al-Shāfiʿī.” (1)

Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-Zanjānī related: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad narrated to us that I asked my father, “What sort of man was al-Shāfiʿī? I often hear you making abundant supplication for him.” He replied, “My son, he was to the world what the sun is, and to humankind what good health is. Can either of these have a successor, or any substitute?” (2)

Al-Zanjānī: I do not know him.

Abū Dāwūd said: “I never saw Abū ʿAbd Allāh (Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal) show an inclination toward anyone as he did toward al-Shāfiʿī.” (3)

Qutaybah ibn Saʿīd declared: “Al-Shāfiʿī is an imam.” (4)

I say: Despite his prodigious intelligence and vast learning, this imam would still take whatever might strengthen his memory.

Hārūn ibn Saʿīd al-Aylī said: Al-Shāfiʿī told us, “I chewed lubān (frankincense) for a year to sharpen my memory, and in exchange I spent a year passing blood.” (5)