He went on to say: “When I was still a boy I used to frequent the jurists of Marw. Each time I arrived I was too shy even to greet them. One of the local tutors once asked me, ‘How many have you written down today?’ I answered, ‘Two,’ meaning two hadiths, and everyone present burst out laughing. An elder among them said, ‘Do not laugh; perhaps the day will come when he is the one who laughs at you!’

I also heard him relate: “I came to al-Humaydī when I was eighteen years old, and he and another man were disputing over a hadith. When al-Humaydī caught sight of me he said, ‘Here is the one who will settle the matter between us.’ They put the narration before me, and I judged in favour of al-Humaydī against his opponent. Had that man persisted in his view and died clinging to it, he would have died a disbeliever.”

Abū ʿAlī ibn al-Khallāl informed us; Abū al-Faḍl al-Hamdānī informed us; al-Salafī informed us; Abū ʿAlī al-Bardānī and Ibn al-Ṭuyūrī said: Hunnād ibn Ibrāhīm informed us; Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Ghunjar informed us; Khalaf ibn Muḥammad al-Khayyām narrated, “I heard al-Faḍl ibn Isḥāq al-Bazzār say, ‘Aḥmad ibn Manhāl, the devotee, narrated to us; Abū Bakr al-Aʿyan narrated: We wrote hadith from al-Bukhārī at the doorway of Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf al-Firyābī, and not a single hair had yet appeared on his face. We asked, “How old are you?” He replied, “Seventeen years old.”’ (1)

Khalaf al-Khayyām also said: “I heard Ibrāhīm ibn Maʿqil say: I heard Abū ʿAbd Allāh say: I was sitting with Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh when one of our companions remarked, ‘If only you would compile a concise book comprising the Sunan of the Prophet ﷺ.’ That suggestion lodged in my heart, so I began collecting this book.” (2)