Maʿrūf ibn Muḥammad ibn Maʿrūf, the preacher, reporting from Abū al-Mustaḍīʾ Muʿāwiyah ibn Aws al-Saksakī—one of the family of Bayt Qūfā—said:
“I saw Hishām ibn ʿAmmār: whenever he walked, he lowered his gaze to the ground and would not raise his head toward the sky, out of modesty before Allah.”
I add: Hishām was an accomplished orator, eloquent and quick-witted.
Among those who transmitted from him was ʿAbdān al-Jawāliqī, who said, “I have not rehearsed a sermon for twenty years.” ʿAbdān also said, “There was no one like him in the world.”
Abū Zurʿah al-Rāzī remarked, “Whoever missed out on Hishām ibn ʿAmmār will have to make up for it with ten thousand hadiths.”
Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn al-Muʿallā, the judge, said, “I saw Hishām ibn ʿAmmār in a dream while many of the shaykhs—Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and others—were present; he was sweeping the mosque. They died, and he outlived them as the last of their number.”
Ibn Ḥibbān al-Bustī said, “His ears lay flat against his head, and he used to dye his hair with henna.”
I (the compiler) say: al-Tirmidhī recorded nothing from him except the hadith of the Marketplace of Paradise (1), which he narrated from him.
(1) Reported by al-Tirmidhi, no. 2549, in the chapter “What has been related concerning the market of Paradise,” through the chain: Muhammad ibn Ismail – Hisham ibn Ammar – Abd al-Hamid ibn Habib ibn Abi al-Ishrin – al-Awzai – Hassan ibn Atiyya – Said ibn al-Musayyab – Abu Hurayra, from the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him. Abu Isa al-Tirmidhi comments: “This hadith is gharib; we know it only through this chain.”
Its complete wording is: “When the people of Paradise enter it, they will settle there in proportion to the excellence of their deeds. Then, after an interval equal to a Friday of the days of this world, permission will be given and they will visit their Lord. His Throne will be displayed to them, and He will reveal Himself in a meadow of Paradise. Pulpits will be set up for them—some of light, some of gold, and some of silver—while the one lowest in rank among them, though none of them is low, will sit upon mounds of musk and camphor, yet they will not think that those seated on the pulpits enjoy a better place than theirs.
Abu Hurayra said: I asked, ‘Messenger of Allah, shall we see our Lord?’ He replied, ‘Yes. Do you dispute about seeing…’”