Mujāhid said, “I have never seen his like, and the day he died he departed as the scholar (ḥabr) of this community—meaning Ibn ʿAbbās (1).”

Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah and others narrated—from Abū Usāmah, from al-Aʿmash, from Mujāhid—who said, “Ibn ʿAbbās was called ‘the Ocean’ because of the vastness of his knowledge (2).”

Al-Wāqidī and al-Zubayr ibn Bakkār also reported from Mujāhid that he said, “Ibn ʿAbbās was the tallest among them in stature, the owner of the largest serving-bowl, and the broadest in knowledge.”

Mujāhid further said, “I have never seen anyone whose Arabic speech was more eloquent than that of Ibn ʿAbbās.”

ʿAmr ibn Dīnār remarked, “I never attended a gathering that combined every form of good more perfectly than his—meaning Ibn ʿAbbās’s session: the lawful and the unlawful, Qurʾanic exegesis, Arabic language, poetry, and generous hospitality with food.”

Muḥammad ibn Saʿd (3) reported: ʿAffān ibn Muslim narrated to us; Salīm ibn Akhdar narrated to us, from Sulaymān al-Taymī—who said that Ḥakam ibn Ayyūb (4) sent him to al-Ḥasan to ask, “Who was the first to assemble the people for a sermon in this mosque on the Day of ʿArafah?” He replied, “The first was Ibn ʿAbbās. He was a man who was mithajj—so I think the wording goes—abundant in knowledge. He would ascend the pulpit, recite Sūrat al-Baqarah, and explain it verse by verse.” A similar report has also reached us from al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī through another chain.

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muslim ibn Qutaybah al-Dīnawarī said: Sufyān narrated from Abū Bakr al-Hudhalī, from al-Ḥasan, who said, “Ibn ʿAbbās was the first to conduct the taʿrīf in Basra; he mounted the pulpit, recited al-Baqarah and Āl ʿImrān, and explained them letter by letter.”

Concerning the word mithajj: Ibn Qutaybah explained, “mithajj comes from thajj, which denotes a copious flow.” Allah, Exalted is He, says, “And We sent down from the rain-laden clouds water pouring forth” (Surah al-Nabaʾ, 78:14).

Yūnus ibn Bukayr said: Abū Ḥamzah al-Thumālī narrated to us, from Abū Ṣāliḥ, who said: “I once witnessed a session of Ibn ʿAbbās which, had all of Quraysh boasted of it, it would have been a fitting source of pride for them (5). I saw people gathered at his door until the street was clogged; no one could come or go. I entered and informed him of the crowd at his door. He said to me, ‘Prepare some water for ablution.’ He performed ablution, sat down, and said, ‘Go out and announce: whoever wishes to ask about the Quran—its recitation, its letters, and what is meant by it—let him enter.’ I went out and conveyed the announcement, and they entered until the house and vestibule were filled. There was nothing they asked him about except that he informed them of it, adding the like of what they had asked or even more. Then he said, ‘Your brothers,’ and they departed. Then