until nothing remained with him, and he would even borrow on credit. He used to treat the people to tharid and give them honey to drink. He would pass the evenings chatting over a honey beverage just as wine-drinkers sit with their wine, saying, “Serve us a drink and relate something to us.” If anyone began to doze he would say, “You are no night companion of Quraysh!”

He owned a crimson-dyed pavilion, wore a crimson-dyed wrapper, and sat upon a crimson-dyed carpet.

Al-Layth said: Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd remarked, “No one still possesses the amount of knowledge that Ibn Shihāb possesses.”

ʿAbd al-Razzāq reported: Maʿmar told us that ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz said, “Hold fast to Ibn Shihāb, for no one remains who is more knowledgeable than he concerning the established sunnah.” Makḥūl said the same.

Ayyūb said, “I have never seen anyone more learned than al-Zuhrī.” He was asked, “Not even al-Ḥasan?” He replied, “I have never seen anyone more learned than al-Zuhrī!”

It was said to Makḥūl, “Who is the most learned person you have met?” He answered, “Al-Zuhrī.” They asked, “And who after him?” He said, “Al-Zuhrī.” They asked again, “And who after him?” He replied, “Al-Zuhrī.”

Mālik said, “When al-Zuhrī entered Madinah he would not relate a single ḥadith there until he had left.”

ʿAbd al-Razzāq narrated from Ibn ʿUyaynah: “The ḥadith scholars of the Ḥijāz are three: al-Zuhrī, Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, and Ibn Jurayj.”

ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī said, “Those who issued legal verdicts were four: al-Zuhrī, al-Ḥakam, Ḥammād, and Qatādah; and in my estimation al-Zuhrī is the most versed of them in jurisprudence.”

Al-Zuhrī said, “Three qualities, if found in a judge, mean he is no judge: if he dislikes reproach, loves praise, and loathes dismissal from office.”

Aḥmad ibn Ṣāliḥ said, “People used to say that the eloquent ones of their age were al-Zuhrī, ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, Mūsā ibn Ṭalḥah, and ʿUbayd Allah (may Allah be pleased with them).”

Mālik narrated from al-Zuhrī that he said: “This knowledge with which Allah trained His Messenger, and with which the Messenger of Allah trained his community, is Allah’s trust to His Messenger, that he convey it exactly as it was conveyed to him. Whoever hears any knowledge should set it before him as a proof between himself and Allah—exalted is He.”

Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn narrated from Yūnus, from al-Zuhrī, who said: “Holding fast to the sunnah is salvation.” ⦗1⦘

Al-Walīd narrated from al-Awzāʿī, from al-Zuhrī, who said: “Transmit the ḥadith of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, exactly as they have come.”