continuously (1), lesson after lesson, from memory alone (2).

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Dāwūd ibn Manṣūr al-Fārisī said: I heard Ḥafṣ ibn ʿUmar remark, “I have never seen the like of Qabīṣah! I never once saw him smile; he was one of Allah’s righteous servants.” (3)

I say: Such, by Allah, were the people of hadith—learning and worship combined. Today there is neither true knowledge nor devotion: only confusion, faulty grammar, abundant textual corruption, and scant memorization. If a man merely keeps clear of the major sins and does not neglect the obligatory acts, one can only praise Allah for him.

Jaʿfar ibn Ḥamdawayh said: We were at Qabīṣah’s door with Dulaf, the son of the emir Abū Dulaf (4). He had with him his attendants, writing down the hadith. When he reached Qabīṣah’s door he knocked, but Qabīṣah delayed in coming out. The servants returned and said to him, “The son of the King of the Mountain is at the door and you do not go out to him!” So Qabīṣah came out, and at the edge of his garment were crumbs of bread. He said, “A man who is content with this from the world—what does he need with the son of the King of the Mountain? By Allah, I shall not narrate to him.” And he did not. (5)

Hārūn al-Ḥammāl said: I heard Qabīṣah say, “I kept company with al-Thawrī when I was sixteen years old, for three full years.” (6)

Among the over-strict judgments of the qāḍī Abū al-Ḥasan ibn al-Qaṭṭān al-Maghribī (7)—the ḥāfiẓ ʿAbd