and he was constant in attending funeral prayers, humble in manner, and he used to say, “I know a man who, while pursuing knowledge, would let the days pass with nothing to live on except the discarded cabbage leaves, and I have received every narration I ever heard in the various lands by walking to the transmitters on my own two feet.” (1)

The ḥāfiẓ Ibn Lubābah said: “Baqī was among the most intelligent and upright of people. Aslam ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz placed him ahead of everyone he met in the East, praised his asceticism, and would say, ‘More than once I walked with him through the alleyways of Córdoba; whenever he noticed in some quiet corner a weak, needy person, he would give him one of the two garments he was wearing.’” (2)

Abū ʿUbaydah, known as Ṣāḥib al-Qiblah, (3) related: “Baqī completed a full recitation of the Quran every night in thirteen rakʿahs, prayed one hundred rakʿahs during the day, and fasted continually throughout the year.”

He was also frequently engaged in jihad and excelled in it; it is reported that he stood guard on the frontier in seventy-two campaigns. (4)

Some scholars quote from a work by Baqī’s grandson, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Aḥmad: “I heard my father say:

‘My father travelled from Mecca to Baghdad, for his sole aim was to meet Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. When I drew near, news of the miḥnah reached me and that he was forbidden to teach, and I was grieved deeply. I entered Baghdad, rented a room in a khān, and then went to the congregational mosque intending to sit with the scholars. I was directed to an eminent study circle, and there was a man speaking about…’”