Ashʿath ibn ʿAbd al-Malik (1) relates from al-Farazdaq:
Abu Hurayrah looked at my feet and said, “O Farazdaq, I see that your feet are small; seek for them a place in Paradise.” I replied, “My sins are many.” He answered, “No harm (2), for I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: ‘In the West there is a gate left open for repentance; it will not be closed until the sun rises from the West’ (3).”
Muʿāwiyah ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm reports from his father: “I once visited al-Farazdaq; when he moved, I noticed a shackle on his leg. I asked, ‘What is this?’ He said, ‘I have sworn not to remove it until I have memorised the Quran.’”
Abu ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAlāʾ said: “I have never seen a Bedouin who settled among townsfolk without his speech becoming debased—except Ruʾbah ibn al-ʿAjjāj and al-Farazdaq, for the longer they stayed, the fresher and sharper their language became.”
His transmitter Abu Sahl said: “Al-Farazdaq divorced his wife Nawār three times, then had al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī witness it. He later regretted the divorce and the fact that he had called al-Ḥasan to testify, and he recited:
I rued like al-Kusaʿī’s rue the day
Nawār, divorced, from my embrace withdrew;
She was my Paradise, and I departed
As he was forced to leave when harm befell;
Had my own hand and heart been mine to govern,
With destiny the choice would yet be mine. (4)
Al-Aṣmaʿī and others said: When Nawār bint Aʿyan ibn Ḍubayʿah al-Mujāshiʿī, the wife of al-Farazdaq, died, she had stipulated that al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī lead her funeral prayer. The notables of Basra attended with al-Ḥasan—al-Ḥasan on his mule and al-Farazdaq on his camel. As they travelled, al-Ḥasan asked al-Farazdaq, “What are the people saying?” He replied, “They are saying that the best of people—meaning you—and the worst of people—meaning me—have attended this funeral today.” Al-Ḥasan said, “O Abū Firās, I am not the best of people, nor are you the worst.” He then asked, “What have you prepared for this day?” Al-Farazdaq answered, “The testimony that there is no god but Allah—these eighty years.” When al-Ḥasan had performed the prayer over her and they turned toward her grave, al-Farazdaq recited:
I fear, beyond the grave—if I am not shown mercy—
A fire more blazing and more constricted than the grave itself.