Narrations from him were carried by Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Razi, Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Baghdadi, Mansur ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Harawi al-Khalidi, Abu al-Qasim ʿAbd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Dimashqi, Ibn Jumayʿ al-Ghassani, and others.

It is related that on one occasion he sighed, “Ah!” When someone asked, “Why is that?” he replied, “Because of everything.”

It is also reported that Ibn Mujahid said to him, “Where, in the sciences of religion, do we ever find ruining what is beneficial?” He answered, “In His statement: ‘So he began wiping [them], striking their legs and necks’ (1). Yet tell me, O Qur’an-reciter, where have you found that the lover never chastises his beloved?” Ibn Mujahid fell silent. He [al-Shibli] added: “In His words: ‘We are the children of God and His beloved.’ Say, ‘Why then does He punish you?’ [al-Ma’idah 5:18] (2).”

From him it is also narrated that he said, “Never did I utter the word ‘Allah’ without immediately seeking Allah’s forgiveness for having said ‘Allah’ (3).”

Ahmad ibn ʿAtaʾ al-Rudhbarī recounted: “I heard al-Shibli say, ‘I wrote down hadith for twenty years, and I kept the company of the jurists for twenty years.’”

He used to emit a loud cry every Friday. One day he cried out, the people were disturbed, and Abu ʿImran al-Ashayb together with the jurists took exception. Al-Shibli came to them, and they said (4): “Abu Bakr, if a woman is uncertain whether the blood she sees is menstrual blood or irregular bleeding, what should she do?” He gave eighteen different answers. Abu ʿImran then rose and kissed his head (5).