Abū Isḥāq al-Shīrāzī says in Ṭabaqāt al-Fuqahāʾ (1): “Among them is Abū Ḥāzim. He studied with the shaykhs of Basra and held the judiciary in Syria, Kūfa, and the Karkh district of Baghdad.”

Abū ʿAlī al-Tanūkhī relates: “Judge Abū Bakr ibn Marwān told us, and Mukram ibn Bakr told me: I was in the court of Judge Abū Ḥāzim when an elder came forward with a youth. The elder lodged a claim of 1,000 dinars against him, and the young man admitted it.

“The judge said to the elder, ‘What do you want?’

“He replied, ‘His imprisonment.’

“The judge then said to the youth, ‘You have heard the claim. Will you pay any part of it?’

“He answered, ‘No.’

“The judge reflected for a moment and then said, ‘Stay together until I look into the matter.’

“I asked, ‘Why did the judge postpone the imprisonment?’

“He answered, ‘Woe to you! In most cases I can distinguish the one in the right from the one in the wrong, and this young man’s ready confession strikes me as far from the truth. Did you not notice how little either of them became angry in their exchange despite the large sum involved?’

“While we were still talking, the matter became clear. A wealthy merchant asked permission to enter; the judge admitted him. He said, ‘I have been afflicted with a young son who squanders my wealth at the establishment of so-and-so al-Muqabbin. Whenever I withhold money from him, he devises tricks that force me to assume liabilities, and the latest is that today he set up al-Muqabbin to demand 1,000 dinars from him. If he is jailed, his mother and I will be plunged into distress.’

“The judge smiled, summoned the youth and the elder, and they were brought in. He admonished the youth; the elder confessed; the merchant took his son by the hand and departed.” (2)

Abū Barzah al-Ḥāsib said, “I know no one on earth more proficient in arithmetic than Judge Abū Ḥāzim.”

Judge Abū Ṭāhir al-Dhuhlī said, “It has reached me that Judge Abū Ḥāzim once sat—”