then surrender yourself to him; he will do with you whatever he wishes.

We once entered upon ʿAbd al-Raḥmān in the early dawn gloom during his terminal illness. He was standing on his bed performing prayer, and when he bowed he remained in that position for a long time (1).

Among his words he said: “I have found that the expressions used for commendation and criticism fall into levels. When they say: ‘trustworthy’ (thiqa) or ‘precise’ (mutqin), his narrations are accepted as proof.

“If they say: ‘truthful’ (ṣadūq), or ‘his default is honesty,’ or ‘there is nothing objectionable about him,’ his hadith is written down and examined; this is the second rank.

“If they say: ‘shaykh,’ his report is written, but he is beneath the previous level.

“If they say: ‘sound in hadith’ (ṣāliḥ al-ḥadīth), his report is written yet he stands lower still; it is recorded only for corroboration.

“If they say: ‘soft’ (layyin), he is below that.

“When they say: ‘weak in hadith’ (ḍaʿīf al-ḥadīth), his narration is not discarded outright; rather it is considered alongside other evidence.

“But when they say: ‘abandoned’ (matrūk al-ḥadīth), or ‘his hadith is worthless’ (dhāhib al-ḥadīth), or ‘liar,’ his report is not written at all (2).”

ʿUmar ibn Ibrāhīm al-Harawī the ascetic related: al-Ḥusayn ibn Aḥmad al-Ṣaffār told us, “I heard ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Ḥātim say:

‘A time of high prices befell us, and one of my friends sent grain from Isfahān. I sold it for twenty thousand and he asked me to purchase for him a house here so that he might stay in it when he came. Instead, I spent the money on the poor and wrote to him: ‘With that sum I have bought you a palace in Paradise.’ He replied, ‘I am content; write a promissory note against yourself.’ I did so, and later I saw in a dream: ‘We have honored what you guaranteed; do not repeat anything of this sort again.’ (3)’

Imām Abū al-Walīd al-Bājī said: “ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Ḥātim is a trustworthy ḥāfiẓ.”