Abu al-Muẓaffar (1) relates in his book Mirʾāt al-Zamān: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn al-Muhtadī said: When al-Maʾmūn entered Baghdad he proclaimed that enjoining right and forbidding wrong was to be suspended, for the shaykhs kept on beating and imprisoning people. Al-Maʾmūn restrained them, saying, “The community is already united behind one leader.”

Later Abū Nuʿaym passed by and saw a soldier who had thrust his hands between a woman’s thighs. He rebuked the soldier sternly, so the man arrested him and took him to the governor, who then forwarded him to al-Maʾmūn.

He (ʿAbd al-Ṣamad) continued: I was brought to him early in the morning while he was engaged in glorifying Allah, and he said, “Perform ablution.” I made wuḍūʾ, washing each limb three times, in the manner transmitted by ʿAbd Khayr from ʿAlī (2), and then I prayed two rakʿahs.

He asked, “What do you say about a man who dies leaving both parents?”
I replied, “The mother receives one-third and whatever remains goes to the father.”

He said, “What if he leaves his parents and one brother?”
I answered, “The ruling is unchanged; the brother is excluded.”

He asked, “What if he leaves his parents and two brothers?”
I said, “Then the mother’s share is one-sixth and the rest is the father’s.”

He asked, “Is that the view of all scholars?”
I replied, “No. Your grandfather Ibn ʿAbbās, O Commander of the Believers, did not reduce the mother’s share from one-third except in the presence of three brothers.”

He said, “My good man, who would forbid someone like you from enjoining right? We have only restrained those who turn right into wrong.” Then I left (3).

Al-Marwadhī transmits from Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal: “Allah elevated ʿAffān and Abū Nuʿaym by their truthfulness until He made their names celebrated.”

Abū ʿUbayd al-Ājurrī said: I asked Abū Dāwūd, “Was Abū Nuʿaym a ḥāfiẓ—a master memorizor of hadith?” He replied, “Most definitely.” (4)