Al-Ḥākim said: Abū ʿAbd Allah Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb related to us; I heard Abū ʿAmr al-Mustamlī say: I heard Muḥammad ibn Rāfiʿ report:

“I was with Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and Isḥāq in the company of ʿAbd al-Razzaq. When the day of Eid al-Fiṭr arrived we went out with ʿAbd al-Razzaq to the open prayer-ground, accompanied by a large crowd. After we had returned, ʿAbd al-Razzaq invited us for the midday meal, and while we were eating with him he said to Aḥmad and Isḥāq, ‘I saw something astonishing from you both today—you did not pronounce the takbīr!’

“They replied, ‘Abū Bakr, we were watching you: if you made the takbīr, we would do the same; but when we saw that you did not, we held back.’

“He said, ‘I, for my part, was watching the two of you to see whether you would make the takbīr so that I might follow.’ ”

Jaʿfar ibn Aḥmad ibn Naṣr, the ḥāfiẓ, said: “I never saw among the experts of ḥadith anyone more awe-inspiring than Muḥammad ibn Rāfiʿ. He would lean against a pine tree in the courtyard of his house, and the scholars would sit before him in their respective ranks, together with the sons of the Ṭāhirid family and their servants, so motionless that it was as though birds were perched on their heads. He would take the book and read it himself; no one uttered a word or even smiled out of deference to him (1). If anyone did smile or whisper to his neighbour, he would say, ‘And may Allah bless Muhammad,’ then take up the book again so that no one could question him or even gesture with a hand.

“Once a servant of the Ṭāhirids smiled during the session, whereupon Ibn Rāfiʿ broke off the gathering. News of this reached Ṭāhir ibn ʿAbd Allah (2), who ordered the servant’s execution, and we had to devise a way to secure the man’s release.”

Zakariyyā ibn Dallawayh said: “Ṭāhir ibn ʿAbd Allah sent to Ibn Rāfiʿ five