Saʿd in al-Tabaqat (vol. 5, p. 287) mentions him, and Ibn Hajar also cites him in Fath al-Bari (vol. 5, p. 75). Habib ibn Abi Thabit reported: “Five gathered in my presence whose like will never be assembled again: ʿAta’, Tawus, Saʿid ibn Jubayr, Ikrimah, and Mujahid. One day Saʿid and Mujahid came and both submitted their exegesis (tafsir) to Ikrimah. They did not ask him about any verse without his explaining it. When their own supply of knowledge was exhausted, he would say, ‘The verse so-and-so was revealed concerning such-and-such.’ Then they entered the bath at night…” (al-Mizzi, Tahdhīb al-Kamāl, vol. 20, p. 273). Jabir ibn Zayd said, “Ikrimah is the most knowledgeable of people.” Al-Shuʿbi stated, “No one remains more learned in God’s Book than Ikrimah.” Imam Ahmad relates from ʿAbd al-Samad from Sallam ibn Miskin that he heard Qatadah say, “The most learned of them in tafsir is Ikrimah.” (Abu Nuʿaym, al-Hilya, vol. 3, p. 326). Saʿid ibn Jubayr expressed the same opinion. Ikrimah himself said, “I have already explained that which lies between the two tablets [of the Preserved Tablet].” Ibn ʿUliyyah reports from Ayub: A man asked Ikrimah about a certain verse, and Ikrimah replied, “It was revealed at the foot of that mountain”—pointing to Salʿ. (Abu Nuʿaym, al-Hilya, vol. 3, p. 327; Imam Ahmad, Maʿrifat al-Rijāl, vol. 2, p. 387). Abd al-Razzāq narrates from his father: “When Ikrimah arrived in al-Jund (in al-Hilya it reads al-Ḥirah; the most reliable readings are preserved in Q and Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ, vol. 5, p. 15; Tahdhīb al-Kamāl, vol. 20, p. 270; al-Mukhtar of Ibn al-Athīr, vol. 4, p. 11), Tawus ‘bought’ him on credit, saying, ‘I have acquired the knowledge of this man.’” Jund was a district in Yemen, fifty-eight farsakhs from Sanaʾa (Muʿjam al-Buldan, vol. 2, p. 169). In another report, Tawus bought him on credit for sixty dinars, saying, “Shall we not purchase the knowledge of this servant for sixty dinars?” (Imam Ahmad, al-ʿIlal, p. 154; al-Khatib, al-Kifāya fī ʿIlm al-Riwaya, p. 155). Ikrimah and Kathīr ibn ʿAzzah died on the same day. Their funerals were carried out together, and people said, “The most juristic and most learned of people has died.” (Ibn Saʿd, al-Tabaqāt, vol. 5, p. 292; Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, al-Istīʿāb, vol. 2, p. 35). Ikrimah also related that Ibn ʿAbbas told him: “Go forth and issue fatwās to the people. Whoever asks about something you understand, give him a ruling; whoever asks about what you do not know, refrain from ruling. In doing so, you relieve me of two-thirds of the burden of the community.” (Abu Nuʿaym, al-Hilya, vol. 3, p. 327). Sufyan reports from ʿAmr: “Whenever I heard Ikrimah recount the maghāzī (military campaigns), it was as if he were overlooking them in person, observing how they acted and fought.” (Tahdhīb al-Kamāl, vol. 20, p. 272; Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ, vol. 5, p. 16). Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal said: “ʿAbd al-Razzāq told us: I heard Muʿammar say: I heard Ayub say: ‘I intended to travel to Ikrimah, to some remote horizon. I found myself in the market of Basra when a man arrived on a donkey, and I was told, “This is Ikrimah.” People gathered around him, and I could not ask him anything—my questions fled. I stood beside his donkey and listened, while asking nothing myself.’” (al-Mizzi, Tahdhīb al-Kamāl, vol. 20, p. 274; al-Dhahabī, Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ, vol. 5, p. 18). Shuʿba reports from Khalid al-Ḥaddhā’: He said Ikrimah once asked a man who was perplexed, “Why have you ‘ajbalt’?” (in Q it reads “akhbalt”; classical lexica explain “ajbala” as “to be cut off,” like a pickaxe stuck in rock, hence “to be at a loss”). That is, “Why are you bewildered?” (Ibn Saʿd, al-Tabaqāt, vol. 5, p. 291; Imam Ahmad, al-ʿIlal, p. 154; Abu Nuʿaym, al-Hilya, vol. 3, p. 328). The man replied, “I am fatigued.”