I shook the chest and found it far heavier than before. When I opened it, I discovered that termites had swarmed over the parchments until the books had turned into nothing but clay.

Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf al-Bujayrī said: I heard al-Aʿyan say, “I saw ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī lying on his back, with Aḥmad [ibn Ḥanbal] to his right and Ibn Maʿīn to his left, and he was dictating to them.”

Abū Umayya al-Ṭarassūsī said: I heard ʿAlī remark, “Sometimes, in the middle of the night, I remember a ḥadīth; I then order the maidservant to light the lamp so I may look it up.”

Al-Bukhārī said: I heard Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd al-Ribāṭī relate that ʿAlī declared, “I have never consulted a teacher’s book and then needed to ask anyone else about it.”

ʿAbbās ibn Sawrah reported that Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn was asked about ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī and about al-Humaydī. He answered, “Al-Humaydī ought to record ḥadīth from another—namely, from ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī.”

Muḥammad ibn Ṭālib ibn ʿAlī an-Nasafī said: I heard Ṣāliḥ ibn Muḥammad state, “Of everyone I met, the most learned in ḥadīth and its hidden defects was ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī; the one with the soundest understanding of ḥadīth was Aḥmad; and the most proficient (1) in ḥadīth was Sulaymān ash-Shādhakūnī.”

ʿAbd al-Muʾmin ibn Khalaf said: I heard Ṣāliḥ ibn Muḥammad, who heard Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿArʿarah, who heard Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Qaṭṭān say to Ibn al-Madīnī, “Woe to you, ʿAlī! I see you pursuing ḥadīth with relentless zeal. I do not think you will die before you are tested.”

Al-Fasawī said: I heard ʿAlī while people were continually coming to him; he was reading to them chapters of