prostration. Whenever the opening words of a ḥadith were mentioned to him, he would run his eye over the page and the folio; if he found himself stuck, they would prompt him with a letter or a phrase, whereupon he would move on, saying, “Allah’s help is sought! Back in the days when we were seekers, these were the very chapters with which we used to visit the shaykhs, review with them, and pick up whatever had slipped us, and we memorised them. Today we have reached the point where we need to be prompted in some of them.” (1)

Azhar ibn Jamīl said: We were with Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd—myself, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, Sufyān al-Ruʾāsī (2), ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī and others—when ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī came in, his complexion pale and his hair dishevelled, and he offered salām.

Yaḥyā said to him, “How are you, Abū Saʿīd?”

He replied, “All is well. Last night I dreamt that a number of our companions had been reversed.”

ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī said, “O Abū Saʿīd, it is good. Allah, exalted is He, says, ‘And whomever We grant a long life, We reverse him in creation’ (Q 36:68).”

He answered, “Be quiet! By Allah, you are one of that group.”

Al-Athram the philologist said: I heard al-Aṣmaʿī say to ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī, “By Allah, O ʿAlī, you will surely leave Islam behind your back.”

Aḥmad ibn Kāmil the judge narrated: Abū ʿAbd Allāh Ghulām Khalīl told us, from al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAẓīm, who said:

I once entered upon ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī and found him downcast and distressed, so I asked, “What troubles you?”

He replied, “A dream I saw: it was as though I were delivering a sermon from the pulpit of David, peace be upon him.”

I said, “You have seen something good—you are preaching from the pulpit of a prophet.” He said, “Had I seen that I was preaching from…"