—the Basrans as well as the scholars of Qur’anic readings, indeed everyone who united the various branches of knowledge and authored works in every discipline—was Abū ʿUbayd.”

He served as tutor to the household of Harthama (1) and later moved to the court of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṭāhir. He was a man of virtue, piety, discretion, and sound doctrine.

He transmitted hadith from Abū Zayd, Abū ʿUbayda, al-Aṣmaʿī, al-Yazīdī, and others among the Basrans.

He also narrated from Ibn al-Aʿrābī, Abū Ziyād al-Kilābī, al-Umawī, Abū ʿAmr al-Shaybānī, and al-Aḥmar (2).

Al-Khaṭīb reports in his History—and others corroborate—that when Ṭāhir ibn al-Ḥusayn marched to Khurāsān he stopped at Marw and asked for someone to converse with him through the night. They replied, “There is no one here but a schoolmaster.”

They brought Abū ʿUbayd before him, and he found him the most learned of people in history, grammar, language, and jurisprudence. He said to him, “It is a grave injustice that you should remain hidden away in this town.”

He then gave him one thousand dinars and said, “I am heading to war, and out of concern for you I do not wish to take you along. Spend this until I return to you.”

During that time Abū ʿUbayd composed his Gharīb al-Muṣannaf. When Ṭāhir ibn al-Ḥusayn came back from the Khurāsān frontier, he took Abū ʿUbayd with him to Sāmarrāʾ. Abū ʿUbayd was trustworthy, devout, God-fearing, and of great standing (3).

Ibn Durustawayh said, “Abū ʿUbayd had books that were never transmitted; I saw them being sold in the estate of certain members of the Ṭāhirid family—numerous works covering every branch of fiqh.”

It has also reached us that whenever he finished a book he would present it to Ibn Ṭāhir, who would reward him with a considerable sum of money (4). He then quoted a passage, until he said: