to us (1) that a shaykh had surfaced in Kūfah who possessed certain copies. We travelled to him, sought him out, and demanded to see the master manuscripts of the reports he was transmitting. He replied, “I have no original; it was Ibn ʿUqda who brought me these copies. He said to me, ‘Recite them; your name will then figure in the transmission chain and the people of Baghdad will come to you.’ ” (2)

Hamzah al-Sahmī said: I asked Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Sufyān, the ḥāfiẓ of Kūfah, about Ibn ʿUqda. He answered:

“I entered his vestibule and found a man called Abū Bakr al-Bustī copying from an ancient master copy that began, ‘Muḥammad ibn al-Qāsim al-Sudānī narrated to us; Abū Kurayb narrated to us….’ I said to him, ‘Let me see it.’

He replied, ‘Ibn Saʿīd bound me not to let anyone look at it while it is with me.’ I humoured him until he handed it over, and it proved to be the original first volume of al-Ushnānī’s recension of the Musnad of Jābir, bearing my own certificate of audition.

While it was still in my hand Ibn Saʿīd came in, flew into a rage at al-Bustī and quarrelled with him. Then he turned to me and said, ‘This is the copy we collated against the original,’ so I let the matter drop.”

Ibn Sufyān added, “That very book is still in my possession.”

Hamzah continued, “And I heard Ibn Sufyān say, ‘His case was even clearer than that.’ ” (3)

With the same chain Abū ʿAbd Allāh Aḥmad ibn Aḥmad al-Qaṣrī related to me—I heard Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Sufyān, the ḥāfiẓ, say:

“A sum of money was sent to Ibn ʿUqda from Khurāsān with instructions that he distribute it to certain indigent people. A huge boulder stood at his doorway. He said to his son, ‘Lift it.’ When the boy could not, he remarked, ‘I see you are weak—take this money,’ and he handed it over to him. (4)”

With this same chain Ḥamzah ibn Muḥammad ibn Ṭāhir told us: “Al-Dāraquṭnī was asked—while I was