except for what is rightfully due, and their reckoning rests with Allah (1).

Al-Hākim said: I asked Abū ʿAlī about al-Ḥasan ibn al-Faraj al-Ghazzī, and he replied, “He was nothing but truthful.”

I said, “The people of the Hijaz report that he heard only part of the Muwaṭṭaʾ, yet went on to transmit the whole of it.”

He answered, “We witnessed nothing but good; he read the Muwaṭṭaʾ to us from his own autograph copy.”

Al-Hākim said: I heard Abū ʿAmr al-Ṣaghīr say, “We lodged at the khān in Damascus. Ibn Jawṣā came to visit Abū ʿAlī the ḥāfiẓ. He dismounted from his mule, showed great delight, conversed with Abū ʿAlī, and borrowed from him his collection entitled ‘The Book of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Dīnār.’ He then escorted us to his house. Afterwards a number of travelling scholars gathered—among them al-Zubayr al-Asdabādhī—and they criticised Ibn Jawṣā over certain narrations. Abū ʿAlī said, ‘Do not do that; this man is an imām who has already crossed the bridge.’

“When this reached Ibn Jawṣā, he paid them no heed; rather, he stood in awe of Abū ʿAlī. He sent his agent to Abū ʿAlī with twenty dinars, saying, ‘Abū ʿAlī, you should depart, for the ruler is looking for you.’ So he left, and we went out with him.

Al-Hākim said: I heard Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad say, ‘Ibn Jawṣā wrote to him that word had reached the ruler that you were travelling with a young boy, and that the boy’s father—meaning Abū ʿAmr al-Ṣaghīr—had set out in search of him.’

Abū Naṣr Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Fārisī and Sunqur ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Zaynī informed us, saying: ʿAlī ibn Maḥmūd narrated to us; Abū Ṭāhir ibn Silfa related to us; al-Qāsim ibn