and another entitled ʿIlal al-Hadith (Hidden Defects of Hadith).

I say: al-Saji authored an impressive work on the subtle defects of hadith which attests to his vast learning and prodigious memory, yet the full details of his life have not reached us as I would have wished. On one occasion he nearly took action against someone who had presented forged material to him. Al-Khalili relates: “I heard the ḥāfiẓ ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Aḥmad al-Shīrāzī say: I asked Ibn ʿAdī about Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Manda. He replied, ‘We were in Basra with Zakariyyā al-Saji when Ibrāhīm read to him two hadiths from Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Wahb, from his uncle, from Mālik. I said, “These are actually from Yūnus.” Al-Saji took his book, examined it, and said to me, “It is as you have said.”

‘He then said to Ibrāhīm, “From whom did you take this?” Ibrāhīm referred him to one of the people of Basra. Al-Saji declared, “Bring me the chief of police so I may blacken this man’s face!” They pleaded with him until he pardoned the offender and tore up the book.’

He passed away in Basra in 307 AH, when he was in his nineties.

I read to Abū al-Faḍl Ibn ʿAsākir, from ʿAbd al-Muʿizz ibn Muḥammad al-Ṣūfī, who reported to us from Zāhir ibn Ṭāhir, who reported to us from Abū Saʿd al-Kanjarūdhi, who reported to us from Abū ʿAmr ibn Abī Jaʿfar. He said: Abū Yaḥyā Zakariyyā ibn Yaḥyā al-Saji told us—and I wrote from him only this single hadith—he said: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Muʿādh narrated to us; my father narrated to us; Sulaim ibn Ḥayyān narrated to us; from Ḥumayd ibn Hilāl; from Abū Ṣāliḥ; from Abū Saʿīd, who said:

The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “When any of you is praying, let him not allow anyone to pass in front of him. If the person insists, then push him away, for a devil is with him.”

This hadith is authentic yet singular (ṣaḥīḥ gharīb); it is transmitted only by Ḥumayd ibn Hilāl. The Two Shaykhs (1) also recorded it through another route