that he would make expiation. A few days later I spoke to him about the matter, but he showed no desire to perform the expiation, and after that I never heard him relate a hadith in full.

Al-Marwadhī said: I heard Abū ʿAbd Allāh in the army camp saying to his son,

“Allah—exalted is He—has said, ‘Fulfil your covenants’ (al-Māʾidah 1). Do you know what those covenants are? They are the pledges, and I hereby pledge myself to Allah—glorified and exalted.”

Then he declared, “By Allah, by Allah, by Allah, and upon me is the covenant (1) and pledge of Allah that I shall not transmit a complete hadith to anyone—near or far—until I meet Allah.”

He then turned to his son and added, “Even though this one might crave from it whatever he craves.”

News reached him that a man from the government—namely Ibn Aktham—had said, “I would like the Caliph to order him to atone for his oath and resume narrating.”

I heard Abū ʿAbd Allāh say to a man who had come on behalf of that speaker, “Even if you were to lash my back with whips, I would still not narrate.”

Of his humility:

Al-Khallāl relates: Muḥammad ibn al-Mundhir narrated to us; Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Tirmidhī said:

“I saw Abū ʿAbd Allāh buying bread in the market and carrying it in a basket. More than once I saw him buy broad beans, wrap them in a cloth, and carry them himself while holding the hand of his son ʿAbd Allāh.”

Al-Khallāl: Al-Marwadhī informed us: I heard Abū ʿAbd Allāh say, “He intended that …”