ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Muqātil al-Balkhī narrated from Abū ʿUbayd: “I entered Basra intending to hear (hadith) from Ḥammād ibn Zayd. When I arrived, I found he had already passed away, so I voiced my disappointment to ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī. He said, ‘Whatever others may have preceded you in, do not let them outstrip you in taqwā (fear of Allah).’ (1)

Abū Ḥāmid al-Ṣāghānī said: I heard Abū ʿUbayd al-Qāsim ibn Sallām say:
“I performed two deeds in Basra for which I hope to attain Paradise. I went to Yaḥyā al-Qaṭṭān while he was declaring, ‘Abū Bakr and ʿUmar.’ I said, ‘I have with me two witnesses from the people of Badr who testify that ʿUthmān is superior to ʿAlī.’
‘Who are they?’ he asked.
I replied, ‘You yourself narrated to us—from Shuʿbah, from ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Maysarah, from al-Nazzāl ibn Sabrah—that Ibn Masʿūd addressed us saying: “We appointed the best man still alive, and we did not fall short.”’
He said, ‘And who is the other?’
I said, ‘Al-Zuhrī, from Ḥumayd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, from al-Miswar, who said: I heard ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf say: “I consulted the earliest Emigrants, the commanders of the armies, and the Companions of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him; I found no one equal to ʿUthmān.”’
Thereupon Yaḥyā abandoned his earlier wording and said, ‘Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, and ʿUthmān.’

“Then I went to ʿAbd Allāh al-Khuraybī and found that his house was that of a wine-seller. I asked, ‘What is this?’
He replied, ‘This is something about which neither our predecessors nor our successors have differed.’
I said, ‘Your predecessors and successors have differed about it.’
‘Who?’ he demanded.
I answered, ‘Ayyūb al-Sakhtiyānī, from Muḥammad, from ʿUbaydah, who said: “People differed with me concerning drinks, so for the last twenty years I have drunk nothing but honey, milk, or water.”’
He said, ‘And who among our contemporaries?’
I said, ‘ʿAbd Allāh ibn Idrīs.’
So he brought out everything in his house and poured it away. (2)

Abū ʿUbayd said: Ibn Idrīs once heard me lamenting that I had missed the chance to study with certain shaykhs, so he said to me, ‘O Abū ʿUbayd! Whatever knowledge passes you by, do not let righteous action pass you by.’ (3)