reached me with an elevated chain, nor had the ḥadith of Abū Ḥuṣayn.

Hamzah added: I heard him say, “I gathered for Bishr b. al-Mu faḍḍal six hundred ḥadiths; anyone who wishes may add to that.”

Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥākim said: Abū ʿAlī al-Naysābūrī never tolerated laxity in scholarly discussion; he would openly refute people in public, and because of that a dispute arose between him and ʿAbdān. I heard Abū ʿAlī relate: “I came to Abū Bakr b. ʿAbdān and pleaded, ‘For Allah’s sake, find me a way to obtain the ḥadith of Sahl b. ʿUthmān al-ʿAskarī, from Junādah, from ʿUbayd Allāh b. ʿUmar.’

He replied, ‘The shaykh has sworn not to transmit that ḥadith as long as you remain in Ahwāz.’

So I made preparations for travel, bade the shaykh farewell, and my companions escorted me. Then I went into hiding until the day of the session, attended in disguise so that no one would recognise me, and ʿAbdān dictated the ḥadith—along with other material he had previously withheld from me.

Afterwards he learned that I had been present in the gathering and was astonished.”

Abū Ḥātim al-Bustī said: ʿAbdān narrated to us at ʿAskar Mukram; he was a difficult, irritable man.

Abū Muḥammad al-Rāmahurmuzī said: We were with ʿAbdān when he declared, “Whoever is invited yet does not respond has disobeyed Allah”—pronouncing the verb with an open yāʾ. Ibn Surayj said to him, “If you would only say: yujib.” He refused, and was amazed at Ibn Surayj’s correctness (1), just as Ibn Surayj marvelled at his error (2).

Abū Aḥmad ibn ʿAdī said: ʿAbdān enjoyed great renown. He told me, “Abū Bakr b. Abī Ghālib came to me. He had gone to Shādhān al-Fārisī but did not overtake him; then he turned to Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim in Isfahān, after which he came to me and said, ‘I missed Shādhān, and when I went to Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim I did not find him well supplied with the ḥadith of Basra, so I have come to you to write their ḥadiths from you, for you are well supplied