31 – Muhammad ibn Salam al-Jumahi related: Bakkar ibn Muhammad ibn Wasiʿ al-Sulami told me: Bilal ibn Abi Burdah said to al-Jarud ibn Abi Sabrah al-Hudhali, “Your friend came to see me today—meaning ʿAbd al-Aʿla.”

He replied, “Yes—and what do you usually do?”

Bilal answered, “We go to him while he is taking his morning meal. If he grants us admission, then if we speak he listens with the utmost attentiveness, and if we remain silent he entertains us with the finest conversation. When lunchtime arrives, his baker steps forward and he says, ‘Bake whatever you have for the guests.’

Bilal then asked, ‘What does he intend by that?’ He replied, ‘He wants each man to hold back a little appetite for what he truly desires. So, when the food is set out—he having already instructed Kinana the Nabataean to treat the matter gently until his own tray is placed, so that he may be excused—then, once the company have eaten their fill, he bares his forearms, grows as ravenous as a male ostrich, and starts all over again.’

Muhammad added: My father used to say that he would call out, ‘Abu al-Zarqaʾ, our bread! Abu al-Zarqaʾ, more bread!’ Abu al-Zarqaʾ was his baker.