Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Ansari said:
“Muhammad ibn ʿAmr ibn ʿAlqamah narrated to us; Abu Salamah narrated to us; from Ibn ʿAbbas, who said: ‘I found most of the knowledge of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to be with this clan of the Ansar. Indeed, I would rest at one of their doors during the midday siesta; had I wished to ask permission and be admitted, permission would certainly have been granted, but I preferred to win his goodwill thereby.’ (1)

Muhammad ibn Saʿd (2) said: ‘Muhammad ibn ʿUmar informed us; Qudamah ibn Musa narrated to me; from Abu Salamah al-Hadrami, who said: I heard Ibn ʿAbbas say: “I used to keep close company with the senior Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, both the Muhajirun and the Ansar. I would question them about the campaigns of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and about the Quranic verses revealed in connection with them. Whenever I visited any of them, he was pleased at my coming because of my kinship with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. One day I began asking Ubayy ibn Kaʿb—who was firmly grounded in knowledge—about the surahs that were revealed in Madinah. He said: ‘Twenty-seven surahs were sent down there; the rest were revealed in Mecca.’”’

Ahmad related—through ʿAbd al-Razzaq, from Maʿmar—who said: ‘Most of Ibn ʿAbbas’s knowledge came from three people: ʿUmar, ʿAli, and Ubayy ibn Kaʿb.’

Tawus narrated from Ibn ʿAbbas that he said: ‘I would indeed ask about a single matter of thirty of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.’

Mughirah narrated from al-Shaʿbi: It was said to Ibn ʿAbbas, ‘How did you acquire this knowledge?’ He replied: ‘With an ever-questioning tongue and a discerning heart.’

It is authentically reported from ʿUmar ibn al-Khattab that he would seat Ibn ʿAbbas among the elders of the Companions and say: ‘What an excellent interpreter of the Quran is ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbbas.’ Whenever he saw him approaching, ʿUmar would say: ‘Here comes the youth of the elders, endowed with an inquisitive tongue and an intelligent heart.’ (3)

It is also established in the Sahih (4) that ʿUmar asked the Companions about the meaning of: “When the help of Allah comes and the victory” (al-Nasr 1). Some remained silent, and others offered explanations that did not satisfy ʿUmar. He then asked Ibn ʿAbbas, who said: ‘It is the death of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ being foretold to him.’ ʿUmar replied: ‘I know of it only what you know,’ intending thereby to impress upon them the greatness of Ibn ʿAbbas’s rank and his lofty station in knowledge and understanding.

On another occasion he asked him about Laylat al-Qadr, and Ibn ʿAbbas deduced that it falls on the seventh night of the last ten. ʿUmar admired and approved this reasoning, as we have mentioned in the Tafsir. (5)