ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Khirāsh narrated: “Ibn Wārah was one of the skilled, trustworthy men of this discipline. I spent a night in his company; he mentioned Abū Isḥāq al-Sabīʿī and then began listing his teachers. In a single flow he named two hundred and seventy of them (1), after which he said, ‘He was peerless—something truly astonishing.’

ʿUthmān ibn Khurradādh said: “I heard al-Shādhakūnī say: Muḥammad ibn Muslim came to me and sat down, affecting an affectedly grand style of speech (2). I asked him, ‘From which town are you?’

He answered, ‘From Rayy. Has my report not reached you? Have you not heard of me? I am the man of the two journeys.’

I said, ‘Who has transmitted the hadith from the Prophet ﷺ, “Indeed, some poetry contains wisdom”?’

He replied, ‘Some of our associates narrated it to me.’

I asked, ‘Which ones?’

He said, ‘Abū Nuʿaym and Qabīṣah.’

I said, ‘Boy, bring me the whip.’ The boy brought it, and I ordered him to strike the man fifty lashes. Then I said, ‘Leave my presence! I cannot trust that you will not go out and say: “Some of our boys narrated it to me.” (3)’

Zakariyyā al-Sājī reported: “Ibn Wārah came to Abū Kuraib, and there was a measure of haughtiness (4) in him. He said to Abū Kuraib, ‘Has my news not reached you? Has my report not come to you? I am the man of the two journeys; I am Muḥammad ibn Muslim ibn Wārah.’

Abū Kuraib replied, ‘Wārah? What is Wārah? And what will make you know what Wārah is? Get up! By Allah, I will neither narrate to you, nor to any people in whose company you are present.’ (5)