Ḥanbal and everyone else by twenty degrees; and whoever utters a word against him, upon him be a thousand curses from me. (1)

He then went on: “Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl—the pious, pure scholar the like of whom I have never seen—narrated to us.” (2)

It is related from al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad, known as ʿUbayd al-ʿIjl, that he said, “I have never seen anyone comparable to Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl, and Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj did not come up to Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl’s rank.

“I saw Abū Zurʿah and Abū Ḥātim listening to Muḥammad, eager for whatever he might say, sitting at his side. When the incident of Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā was mentioned to ʿUbayd al-ʿIjl, he remarked, ‘What connection has he with Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl? Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl was a nation unto himself; he surpassed Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā in this matter and that, and he was devout, virtuous, excelling in everything.’” (3)

Abū Ḥāmid Aḥmad ibn Ḥamdūn al-Qaṣṣār said, “I heard Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj come to al-Bukhārī, kiss him between the eyes, and say, ‘Let me kiss your feet.’

“He then said, ‘Muḥammad ibn Salām narrated to you—“Makhlad ibn Yazīd al-Harrānī told us, Ibn Jurayj informed us, from Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah, from Suhayl, from his father, from Abū Hurayrah, from the Prophet ﷺ regarding the expiation for a gathering.” (4) What is the hidden defect in it?’

Muḥammad ibn—