Anas once said, “I truly envy the people of Basra for these two shaykhs: al-Hasan and Ibn Sīrīn.”

Qatādah remarked, “I have never sat with any jurist without discerning al-Hasan’s superiority over him,” and he also said, “My eyes have never seen anyone more versed in fiqh than al-Hasan.”

Ayyūb said, “A man would sit in al-Hasan’s company for three consecutive ḥajj seasons and, out of awe for him, would not pose a single question.”

al-Shaʿbī said to a man who was about to travel to Basra, “When you behold the most handsome and most awe-inspiring man among the people of Basra—that is al-Hasan; give him my salutations.”

Yūnus ibn ʿUbayd observed, “Simply looking at al-Hasan benefitted a person, even if he did not witness his deeds or hear his words.”

al-Aʿmash said, “Al-Hasan kept absorbing wisdom—and then he voiced it.”

Whenever Abū Jaʿfar mentioned him, he would say, “His speech resembles the speech of the prophets.”

Muhammad ibn Saʿd (1) reported: “They said that al-Hasan embodied both knowledge and practice: a lofty scholar, a trustworthy and reliable jurist, a devoted worshipper, ascetic and devout, abounding in knowledge and deeds, eloquent, handsome, and dignified. He once came to Mecca (2); he was seated on a couch while the scholars gathered around him, and the people flocked to him as he related traditions. Mujāhid, ʿAṭāʾ, Ṭāwūs, and ʿAmr ibn Shuʿayb were present, and they declared, ‘We have never seen the like of this man.’”

The historians relate that al-Hasan died at the age of eighty-eight in the year 110 AH, on the first day of Rajab. One hundred days separated his death from that of Muhammad ibn Sīrīn.

As for Ibn Sīrīn (3): he is Muhammad ibn Sīrīn, Abū Bakr ibn Abī ʿAmr al-Anṣārī, the freedman of Anas ibn Mālik al-Naḍrī. Abū Muḥammad was among the captives of ʿAyn al-Tamr taken by Khālid ibn al-Walīd. Anas purchased him and later set up a manumission contract for him. From him there came several righteous children—this Muhammad, Anas ibn Sīrīn, and Maʿbad,