He goes on to say: al-Maqsalaṭ is a spot in Damascus, in the Flour Market. His point is that an idol neither feels thirst, nor—were it ever to feel thirsty—would it descend to drink; he therefore dismisses both the descent and the thirst. (1)

He said: I heard Abū Zakariyyā al-ʿAnbarī, who heard al-Būshanji, who heard Qutaybah ibn Saʿīd, who heard Yūnus ibn Sulaym say, “Rice is food fit for the noble.”

Qutaybah added, “When I performed the pilgrimage they turned this into a ḥadīth. They would come to Baghdad saying, ‘The ḥadīth of rice, the ḥadīth of rice.’”

I heard al-ʿAnbarī, who heard al-Būshanji, who heard Abū Ṣāliḥ al-Farrāʾ, who heard Yūsuf ibn Asbāṭ relate that Sufyān said to him, “If you see the Qur’an reciter attaching himself to the ruler, know that he is a thief; and if you see him courting the wealthy, know that he is a pretender. Do not let yourself be deceived when someone says to you, ‘He is merely righting a wrong or defending the oppressed,’ for this is Satan’s ruse, a trick the reciters have adopted as a ladder.”

I also heard al-ʿAnbarī report from al-Būshanji: “Ibn Isḥāq, in our estimation, is reliable—reliable.”

He said: I heard Abū ʿAmr ibn Ḥamdān, who heard Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq say, “Had Abū ʿAbd Allāh not been so stingy with his knowledge, I would never have travelled to Egypt.” (2)

Abū al-Naḍr the jurist said: I heard al-Būshanji declare, “Whoever seeks knowledge and jurisprudence without proper etiquette has brazenly undertaken to lie about Allah and His Messenger.”

Al-Sulaymānī the ḥāfiẓ mentioned Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Būshanji, saying, “He is one of the leading imams among the adherents of Mālik.”