the righteous more untruthful in anything than in their transmission of hadith.”

Ayyūb al-Sakhtiyānī said, “I have neighbours whose supplications before dawn I hope will bring blessings, yet if any one of them testified before me concerning even a portion of onions, I would not accept his testimony.”

Mālik ibn Anas said, “I encountered such-and-such a number of elders in this mosque, each saying, ‘My father related to me from my grandfather, from the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace).’ They were virtuous and righteous.” Yet he would not take any reports from any of them. He would give preference to