and (Prayer), and (Zakāh), extending all the way to the conclusion of the compendium al-Mabsūṭ.

I heard Abū al-Faḍl ibn Ibrāhīm say:
“Abū Bakr ibn Isḥāq stood in for the Imām of the Imāms, Ibn Khuzaymah, issuing legal verdicts for roughly a dozen years, both in the great mosque and elsewhere.

Then al-Hākim said: I heard the Shaykh Abū Bakr recount: ‘I saw in a dream that I was in a house in which ʿUmar was present. The people had gathered around him asking questions, and he gestured to me to answer them. So I was questioned and I answered, while he kept saying to me, “You have answered correctly; proceed—you have answered correctly; proceed.”

I then asked, “O Commander of the Believers, what is deliverance from this world, what is the way out of it?” He pointed his finger at me and said, “Supplication.” I repeated the question, whereupon he composed himself, bowing as though in prostration out of humility, and again said, “Supplication.”’

Al-Hākim added: Among his writings are the book (the Names and Attributes), the book (Faith), the book (Predestination), the book (the Four Caliphs), the book (the Vision), and the book (Legal Rulings)—this last was taken to Baghdad, where it received abundant praise—together with the book (Imamate).

I once heard him addressing an older man of the people of (1). He said to him, ‘Narrate to us from Sulaymān ibn Ḥarb.’ The man replied, ‘Leave aside “he narrated to us”; how long will it be “he narrated to us” and “he informed us”?’ Abū Bakr retorted, ‘Good sir, I detect not the faintest scent of faith in your words, and it is not lawful for you to enter this house.’ He then avoided him until the man died.

Al-Hākim further relates: I heard Muḥammad ibn Ḥamdūn say, ‘I accompanied Abū Bakr ibn Isḥāq for years, and I never once saw him forgo the night prayer, whether on a journey or at home.’ (2)