from Ibrāhīm al-Harbī, who had promised us that he would dictate a discussion on the issue of “the name and the thing named.” At his gathering some thirty thousand inkwells would be present. Ibrāhīm himself owned very little. He had a small upper room; he would climb up to it and look out over the people through a tiny window that opened onto the street. When the crowd had assembled, he appeared and said to them:

“I had indeed promised you to dictate something on the ‘name and the thing named,’ but when I reflected and found that no recognized imam had preceded me in speaking about it, I deemed discussion of the subject an innovation.”

The people then rose and dispersed.
On Friday a man came to him—Ibrāhīm never sat with anyone except by himself—and asked about that very question. Ibrāhīm said, “Were you not present at our session yesterday?”
The man replied, “Indeed I was.”
Ibrāhīm asked, “Do you know all knowledge?”
He answered, “No.”
Ibrāhīm said, “Then count this among the things you do not know.”

With the same chain, Ibrāhīm said: “I have never derived profit from my knowledge save to the value of half a ḥabbah. I once stood with a man and handed him a coin to purchase something; the price came to one dānaq minus half a ḥabbah. He asked me a question, and I answered him. He then said to his servant, ‘Give Abū Isḥāq a whole dānaq—do not dock him half a ḥabbah.’” (1)

I heard him say as well: “For thirty years, every night when I go to bed I reflect that, had I given my two loaves to my neighbor, I would have been in need of them.” (2)

It is also reported that when Ibrāhīm composed Gharīb al-Ḥadīth—an exquisite and comprehensive work in its field—Thaʿlab remarked, “What business has Ibrāhīm with Gharīb al-Ḥadīth? He is a hadith scholar!” Later he attended Ibrāhīm’s session, and when he entered and sat down Thaʿlab prostrated in gratitude and said, “I never imagined there was anyone like this man on the face of the earth.”