I say: Barakah was suspected of fabrication (1).

Al-Ḥākim related: Aḥmad ibn Sahl the jurist told us, saying, “I heard Abū ʿAlī recount:

‘In Basra there lived Abū Mūsā al-Zamin; his mind was somewhat impaired. He would declare, “ʿAbd al-Wahhāb narrated to us—meaning Ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd—who said: Ayyūb narrated to us—meaning al-Sakhtiyānī.”

Abū Zurʿah once entered and asked him about a hadith, and he replied, “Ḥajjāj narrated to us.” I said—that is, Ibn Minhal. Abū Zurʿah remarked, “Why are you tormenting the poor man?”

He (Abū ʿAlī) also said: We were in Abū ʿAlī’s circle. When he rose to leave, a man in the gathering asked him, “Shaykh, what is your name?” He answered, “Wāthilah ibn al-Asqaʿ.” The man then wrote, “Wāthilah ibn al-Asqaʿ narrated to us.”’

Abū al-Faḍl ibn Isḥāq said: I was with Ṣāliḥ ibn Muḥammad when a man from the rustāq (2) entered and began asking about the standing of various shaykhs, recording Ṣāliḥ’s answers. He asked, “What is your opinion of Sufyān al-Thawrī?” Ṣāliḥ replied, “He is not reliable.” The man wrote that down, and I reproached him. Ṣāliḥ said to me, “How strange you are! Whoever asks about someone like Sufyān—why should you care whether he quotes you or not?”

Aḥmad ibn Sahl said: I was sitting with Ṣāliḥ ibn Muḥammad at the gate of his house when his son approached, a man shorter than him on his right and a boy on his left. Ṣāliḥ turned to me and said, “O Abū Naṣr! tabbat (3)?”

(1) I.e. he was accused of inventing reports.
(2) Arabic rustāq: the countryside or outlying districts.
(3) An exclamation of censure or astonishment, literally “may he perish.”