“And you too, Abū al-Qāsim — meaning, you are likewise my father.”

Ibn Manda said: I came across a report from Aḥmad ibn Jaʿfar the jurist. Abū ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Sulamī related to us: I heard al-Ṭabarānī say, “When Abū ʿAlī ibn Rustum ibn Fāris arrived, I visited him. One of his secretaries entered and, as a gift, poured five hundred dirhams out beside his leg. When the secretary left, he handed the money to me. A little later his daughter, Umm ʿAdnān, came in and poured another five hundred dirhams beside his leg. I rose to leave. He asked, ‘Where are you going?’ I said, ‘I stood up so no one would say I remained seated for the sake of this money.’ He replied, ‘Take this as well.’ Yet toward the end of the man’s life he spoke ill of Abū Bakr and ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with them both—so I walked out and never went back to him again.”

Aḥmad ibn Jaʿfar the jurist said: I heard Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥamdān, Abū al-Ḥasan al-Madīnī, and others say, “We heard al-Ṭabarānī declare, ‘This book is my very soul’—meaning his Middle Muʿjam.”

Abū al-Ḥusayn Aḥmad ibn Fāris, the philologist, recounted: I heard the Ustāḏh Ibn al-ʿAmīd say, “I never thought anything in this world could be sweeter than the authority and vizierate I enjoy, until I witnessed a scholarly debate between Abū al-Qāsim al-Ṭabarānī and Abū Bakr al-Jiʿābī in my presence. Al-Ṭabarānī would prevail through the breadth of his memorization, while Abū Bakr would prevail through his quickness and intelligence. Their voices rose, and neither could quite defeat the other. Then al-Jiʿābī said, ‘I have a ḥadith that no one on earth possesses except me.’ ‘Let us hear it,’ said al-Ṭabarānī. Al-Jiʿābī began, ‘Abū Khalīfah al-Jumaḥī narrated to us; Sulaymān ibn Ayyūb narrated to us,’ and he related the ḥadith. Al-Ṭabarānī replied, ‘Sulaymān ibn Ayyūb reported it to us, and Abū Khalīfah heard it from me. So hear it from me, and your chain of transmission will thereby be higher.’ Al-Jiʿābī was embarrassed, and I wished there had been no vizierate and that I were al-Ṭabarānī, so that I might have rejoiced as he did—or words to that effect.”