have I ever taken anything from them, nor have I put on a single garment they bestowed.

Sahnun also said: “Some of the early generations were on the verge of uttering a word which—had they spoken it—would have benefited multitudes, yet they kept silent for fear of showing off.”

Whenever prolonged silence began to please him, he would break it and remark, “The people most brazen in issuing fatwas are those least endowed with knowledge.”

He further said, “I know legal questions that carry eight different opinions from eight imams—so how could I rush to give a quick answer?”

It is related that the emir Ziyadat Allah once sent to ask Sahnun about a certain issue, but Sahnun declined to reply. Muḥammad b. ʿAbdūs scolded him, saying, “Leave these people’s town! Yesterday you refused to pray behind their judge, and today you will not answer their question?!”

Sahnun responded, “Shall I answer someone who merely wants to amuse himself—who wishes to gather my view alongside the views of others? Had he sought the matter for the sake of religion, I would have answered him.”

He also said, “I have found no one who sells his hereafter for another man’s worldly share except the mufti.”

ʿAbd al-Jabbār b. Khālid reported: “We were attending Sahnun in his village. After praying the dawn prayer he came out with a plough on his shoulder and a pair of oxen in front of him. He told us, ‘The boy had a fever last night, so I am ploughing in his place today; I will join you later.’ I said, ‘I will plough for you.’ He then set before me his breakfast—barley bread and oil. (1)

Ismāʿīl b. Ibrāhīm said: “I visited Sahnun while he was serving as judge, and around his neck hung a string of prayer-beads with which he was glorifying Allah. (2)"