Al-Kisāʾī said: “I was with him—meaning Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim—when a man exclaimed, ‘O judge! We have heard that three men were in the open desert, turning over the sand. One of them prayed, “O Allah, You are able to feed us khabīṣ (1) the color of this very sand.” Suddenly a Bedouin appeared carrying a tray and set it before them; on it was steaming hot khabīṣ.’ Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim remarked, ‘Such a thing truly happened.’

Abū ʿAbd Allāh (2) added, ‘The three were ʿUthmān ibn Ṣakhr the ascetic, Abū Turāb, and Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim—and it was he who made the supplication (3).’

Muhammad ibn Ibrāhīm narrates from Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim: “I travelled with Abū Turāb; they crossed the desert with no provision save these two verses:

Take it slow; avoid mounting the steed of caprice—
what a wretched mount for its rider!
Allah alone suffices you as intimate,
Allah alone suffices you as companion.

Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim was an accomplished Qur’an reciter. He would say, ‘In recitation I give precedence to the reading of Nāfiʿ,’ and, ‘No one is left who read to Rūḥ ibn ʿAbd al-Muʾmin—the transmitter of Yaʿqūb—except me.’

Ibn Mardawayh said: I heard ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿĪsā relate; I heard Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Madīnī, the cloth-merchant, say: ‘I arrived in Basra while Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal was still alive. I asked who among them was the most learned in jurisprudence, and they answered, “No one in Basra surpasses Aḥmad ibn ʿAmr ibn Abī ʿĀṣim in fiqh.”’