With the same chain al-Ṣūrī related to me. He said: Zayd ibn Jaʿfar al-ʿAlawī told us; ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad al-Tammār told us; Abū al-ʿAbbās Ibn ʿUqda said:

“There was a book lying before me that contained about five hundred hadiths narrated from Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit al-Asadī, yet I knew no chain for them at all.”

Al-Tammār continues: One day he said to one of his copyists, “Come with me to Bajīlah—the quarter of the singing-girls.”

The man asked, “What are we going to do there?”

He replied, “Come along; there is some benefit in it for you.” I refused, but he prevailed upon me, and we both went to that place.

Then he said to me, “Ask for Quṣayʿah, the effeminate one.”

I protested, “For Allah’s sake, master, this is shameful!”

Anger pushed me to comply, so I went in and asked about Quṣayʿah. A man came out to me with a tambourine hanging round his neck, dyed with henna. I brought him to Ibn ʿUqda, who said, “My good man, go, take off what you have on, put on your shirt, and come back.” So he went, put on his shirt, and returned.

Ibn ʿUqda asked him, “What is your name?”

He replied, “Quṣayʿah.”

He said, “What is your real name?”

“Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī.”

“You have spoken truly. Son of whom?”

“Son of Ḥamzah.”

“Son of whom?”

“By Allah, teacher, I do not know.”

He said, “Son of Ḥamzah ibn so-and-so ibn so-and-so ibn Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit al-Asadī.” He then pulled a booklet from his sleeve, handed it to him, and said, “Hold this.” The man took it, whereupon he said, “Now give it back to me.”

Then he said to him, “Up now; you may leave.”

After that Abū al-ʿAbbās kept saying, “So-and-so, son of so-and-so, handed me his grandfather’s book, and in it there was such-and-such.” (1)

Al-Khaṭīb said: I heard it mentioned that whenever the leading memorisers began a session of mutual review, they would stipulate that they exclude the hadith of Ibn ʿUqda, because of its vast scope and because it could not be brought under control. (2)