It is reported that al-Shafiʿi said to al-Rabiʿ, “If I were able to feed you knowledge as food, I would certainly do so.” (1)

He also said, “Al-Rabiʿ is the carrier of my books.” (2)

Abu ʿUmar Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr related: “Muhammad ibn Ismaʿil al-Tirmidhi listed the names of those who obtained al-Shafiʿi’s works from al-Rabiʿ and traveled to him from distant regions; he named roughly two hundred men.” (3)

Abu ʿUmar added, “Before al-Rabiʿ, no one ever gave the call to prayer from the minaret of Egypt’s congregational mosque. Scholars journeyed to him for al-Shafiʿi’s writings. He was upright and free of guile, though not firmly grounded in jurisprudence.”

I say: he was indeed among the senior scholars, yet he did not attain the rank of al-Muzani, just as al-Muzani did not reach al-Rabiʿ’s standing in hadith. (4) Abu ʿIsa (al-Tirmidhi) transmitted in his Jamiʿ from al-Rabiʿ by formal authorization (ijaza). Through his chain we have heard the Musnad attributed to al-Shafiʿi, which Abu al-ʿAbbas al-Asamm selected from al-Umm to encourage travelling students to narrate it; otherwise, al-Shafiʿi—may Allah have mercy on him—never compiled a Musnad himself.

It is also said that these verses are by al-Rabiʿ: (5)

Bear gracious patience—how swiftly relief arrives!
Whoever is truthful with Allah in every matter will be delivered.
Whoever fears Allah will suffer no harm,
And whoever hopes in Allah will find Him as hoped.