al-Ḥammār (1).

He listed a number of names and then said, “Those who narrated from him were…,” whereupon he mentioned yet another group. He added: “He was trustworthy, firmly grounded; the Musnad, the narrations of Shuʿbah, and the narrations of Mālik had all been gathered for him.”

He went on: “I have been informed that he used to send his Musnad to Ibn ʿUqda for examination, placing a dinar between every two folios. Al-Dāraquṭnī was the one who arranged his books. Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Wāsiṭī related to me from al-Dāraquṭnī who said, ‘I compiled for Daʿlaj the Grand Musnad; whenever he doubted a hadith he would strike it out, and I have not seen anyone among our teachers more exact than he.’ (2)

Abū al-ʿAlāʾ further quoted ʿUmar al-Baṣrī as saying, “Among all those in Baghdad from whom I selected hadith, I have never seen books more accurate than those of Daʿlaj.” (3)

Al-Ḥākim said: “I heard al-Dāraquṭnī state, ‘I have not seen anyone among our shaykhs more reliable than Daʿlaj.’”

Abū Dharr al-Harawī reported: “I heard that the very first estate Muʿizz al-Dawlah seized from the inheritances was Daʿlaj’s; he had left three hundred thousand dinars.”

Al-Khaṭīb recounted: Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Wāsiṭī told me that Daʿlaj was asked why he had left Mecca. He replied, “One night I came out of the mosque and three Bedouins stepped forward. They said, ‘Your brother from Khurāsān killed our brother, and we will kill you in retaliation.’ I said, ‘Fear Allah, for Khurāsān is not a single city.’ I kept reasoning with them until the people gathered, and they let me go.

“That,” he concluded, “was the reason I moved to Baghdad.

“He used to say, ‘There is nothing in the world like my house, for there is nothing in the world like…’”