Abu ʿAbd Allah said, “Muslim transmitted it from Ḥarmalah, and a lengthy discussion ensued between the two of them.

At the second session Abu ʿAbd Allah produced Muslim’s book, written in Muslim’s own hand, containing the transmission from Ḥarmalah—and in it was the wording, ‘all of it.’

Abu ʿAli remarked, ‘One who fails to memorize something is excused.’

Abu ʿAbd Allah retorted, ‘Whoever rejects this should have his ear twisted and his teeth knocked out.’

Abu ʿAli was filled with anger, and Abu ʿAbd Allah started to rise, whereupon Abu ʿAli said to him, ‘Sit down, for there is another reckoning ⦗1⦘ here.’

He asked, ‘And what is that?’

Abu ʿAli replied, ‘You have narrated—from Kashmard, from Ḥafṣ, from Ibrāhīm ibn Ṭahmān—two reports that only Ḥafṣ’s son and Aḥmad transmit from him singly.’

Abu ʿAbd Allah said, ‘I did not narrate them.’

Abu ʿAli said, ‘Yes you did; two trustworthy men heard you relate them.’

He answered, ‘If I did relate them, I have since withdrawn them.’

Abu ʿAli continued, ‘And in your earlier recension of Muslim’s book you cited—through Aḥmad ibn Salamah, from Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā, from Muḥammad Jahḍam—the ḥadith beginning “And now…,” whereas you have recently transmitted it from ʿAlī, from ⦗2⦘ Ibn Jahḍam.’

He replied, ‘Both versions are in my possession and I have reported both.’

Abu ʿAli then said, ‘Produce for us your narration from ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan.’

Al-Ḥākim comments: I heard Abu ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Akhram say, ‘This is what befalls a man who outlives his peers.’ Thereafter I considered Abu ʿAli remorseful for what he had said that day.

Al-Ḥākim adds: He died in Jumādā al-Ākhirah of the year 344 AH.

I say: In that same year died the Qur’an-reciter of Baghdad, Abu al-Ḥusayn Aḥmad ibn ʿUthmān ibn Buyān, ⦗3⦘ the specialist in Nāfiʿ’s reading, and the muhaddith of Damascus, Abu Yaʿqūb Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Hāshim.