Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn of it. While Abū al-Azhar was sitting with Yaḥyā in a gathering of the ḥadith scholars, Yaḥyā asked, “Who is this lying Nīshāpūrī who has reported such a thing from ʿAbd al-Razzaq?”

Abū al-Azhar stood up and said, “Here I am—it is I.”

Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn smiled and said, “Indeed, you are no liar,” marvelling that Abū al-Azhar had emerged unscathed, and he added, “The fault for this lies with someone else.” (1)

I heard Abū Aḥmad the ḥāfiẓ say, “I heard Abū Ḥāmid ibn al-Sharqī, and he was asked about the report Abū al-Azhar transmitted from ʿAbd al-Razzaq regarding the virtues of ʿAlī. He replied, ‘This ḥadith is invalid.’

“He then explained, ‘The reason is that Maʿmar had a nephew who was a Rāfiḍī (Shiʿite extremist). Maʿmar used to let him handle his books, and the nephew inserted this material into them.

“‘Maʿmar was so imposing that no one dared to question or review anything with him, and ʿAbd al-Razzaq heard the narration from the book that belonged to Maʿmar’s nephew.’” (2)

I (al-Ḥākim) say: Because ʿAbd al-Razzaq inclined toward Shiʿism, he was pleased with the report, wrote it down, and did not check it with Maʿmar. Yet he never dared to relate it to the likes of Aḥmad, Ibn Maʿīn, or ʿAlī, nor did he include it in his compilations; he would narrate it only while fearful and apprehensive.

Al-Ḥākim said: I heard Muḥammad ibn Ḥāmid the cloth-merchant; I heard Makkī ibn ʿAbdān; I heard Abū al-Azhar say: “ʿAbd al-Razzaq went out to his village, so one day I set off to visit him at dawn, to the point that I feared for myself because of how early it was.

“I reached him before he left for the dawn prayer. When he came out and saw me, he asked, ‘Were you here last night?’

“I replied, ‘No, but I set out during the night,’ and that impressed him.

“Then, when he had completed the prayer…"