Abū Ḥafṣ ibn Shāhīn said: The vizier ʿAlī ibn ʿĪsā wanted to reconcile Ibn Abī Dāwūd with Ibn Ṣāʿid, so he gathered the two of them together, with Abū ʿUmar the judge also in attendance. The vizier addressed Ibn Abī Dāwūd, saying, “O Abū Bakr! Abū Muḥammad is older than you; why do you not rise to greet him?” He replied, “I will not.”

The vizier retorted, “You are a counterfeit shaykh!”

He answered, “A counterfeit shaykh is the one who lies against the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him.”

The vizier asked, “Who is the liar?”

He said, “This man.”

He then stood up and declared, “Do you suppose I would humble myself before you for the sake of my stipend, thinking it reaches me by your hand? By Allah, I will not take anything from your hand. (1)”

Thereafter the caliph al-Muqtadir would weigh out his stipend with his own hand and send it on a tray carried by a servant. (2)

Abū Aḥmad al-Ḥākim said: I heard Abū Bakr relate:

“I said to Abū Zurʿah al-Rāzī, ‘Dictate to me a singular report from the narrations of Mālik.’ So he recited to me the ḥadīth of Wahb ibn Kaysān, from Asmāʾ: ‘Do not keep count, lest it be counted against you.’ (3) He had transmitted it from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Shaybah, and he is weak.

“I said to him, ‘You ought to record it from me—with the chain: from Aḥmad ibn Ṣāliḥ, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Nāfiʿ, from Mālik.’ Abū Zurʿah became angry, complained of me to my father, and said, ‘Look at what Abū Bakr is telling me!’ (4)”

It is also reported—with a broken chain—that Aḥmad ibn Ṣāliḥ used to bar beardless youths from his teaching circle. Abū Dāwūd wanted his son to hear from him, so he fastened a false beard to the boy’s face and brought him in. The shaykh realized the ruse and exclaimed, “Is something like this done with a man of my standing?!”

Abū Dāwūd answered, “No—”