Muṣʿab said, “I went to a certain man and spoke with him. He retorted, ‘You come to plead with me about a man who once belonged to us and then left our way?’ Yet he handed me one hundred dinars.

“Then Muṣʿab said to me, ‘Al-Rashīd has written commanding me to go to Yemen as its judge. Travel with us; perhaps Allah will replace what you have lost.’

“So I set out with him and we took our places among the people. Muṭarrif ibn Māzin wrote to al-Rashīd: ‘If you wish Yemen to remain sound and not slip from your control, remove Muḥammad ibn Idrīs from it,’ and he listed a number of the Banū Ṭālib. Al-Rashīd thereupon sent word to Ḥammād al-Barbarī; I was put in irons until we reached Hārūn in al-Raqqah, where I was ushered into his presence… He later mentioned his meeting with Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan and the debate that followed (1).

Al-Humaydī relates from al-Shāfiʿī, who said: “Our home in Mecca was in the mountain pass of al-Khayf. Whenever I saw a bone gleaming, I would write on it a hadith or a legal point. We had an old earthen jar; once the bone was filled, I would drop it into the jar.” (2)

ʿAmr ibn ʿUthmān al-Makkī reports—through al-Zaʿfarānī—from Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, who said: I heard Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd say, “For four years now I have been praying to Allah on behalf of al-Shāfiʿī.” (3)

Ibn Mājah al-Qazwīnī said: Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn visited Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. While he was with him, al-Shāfiʿī passed by on his mule. Aḥmad jumped up to greet him and followed him, remaining away for some time, while Yaḥyā stayed seated. When Aḥmad returned, Yaḥyā said, “O Abū ʿAbd Allah!”