—those two beautiful ones?’
He replied, ‘The tears I shed before dawn have taken them away.’

I heard Abū ʿAlī the ḥāfiẓ say: I heard Muḥammad ibn al-Musayyab al-Arghiyānī say: I heard Abū ʿAlī al-Ḍarīr say:
‘I asked Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, “How many hadiths does a man need to know in order to give legal rulings? One hundred thousand?”
He said, “No.”
I said, “Two hundred thousand?”
He said, “No.”
I said, “Three hundred thousand?”
He said, “No.”
I said, “Four hundred thousand?”
He said, “No.”
I said, “Five hundred thousand?”
He said, “I hope so.” (1)’

I also heard Abū Aḥmad the ḥāfiẓ in Ṭūs, and ʿAlī ibn Ḥamshād related this to me from him in the year 337 AH; then Abū Aḥmad himself narrated it to me, saying:
‘Muḥammad ibn al-Musayyab narrated to us; Isḥāq ibn al-Jarrāḥ al-Adhanī narrated to us; Ḥasan ibn Ziyād narrated, saying:
Al-Fuḍayl ibn ʿIyāḍ took me by the hand and said, “Ḥasan, Allah descends to the lowest heaven and proclaims, ‘He has lied who claims to love Me; for when night falls he goes to sleep and forgets Me.’”’

I heard al-Muzakkī say: I heard Muḥammad ibn al-Musayyab say: I heard Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā say:
‘The caliph wrote to Ibn Wahb, appointing him as judge over Egypt. Ibn Wahb therefore pretended to be insane and confined himself to his house. Rushdīn ibn Saʿd looked in on him from the roof and said, “Abū Muḥammad! Will you not go out to the people and judge between them as Allah and His Messenger have commanded? You have driven yourself mad and shut yourself indoors!”
Ibn Wahb answered, “Is that the limit of your understanding? Do you not know that judges will be gathered on the Day of Resurrection with the rulers, whereas scholars will be gathered with the Prophets?!”’

Al-Ḥākim said: I heard more than one of our teachers relate on the authority of al-Arghiyānī