Al-Awzaʾī narrated from al-Zuhri: “We used to go to the scholar, and nothing was dearer to us than learning from his adab (etiquette) rather than from his knowledge.” Sufyān said: al-Zuhri would say “So-and-so narrated to me” and describe him as one of the awiyaʾ (vessels) of knowledge—never would he say “he was an ʿālim (scholar).” Mālik said: “The first person to commit knowledge to writing was Ibn Shihāb.” Abū al-Malīḥ said: “It was Hishām who compelled al-Zuhri to write down the hadith, and thereafter people began to record it in writing.” Rashīd ibn Saʿd (though some transmit the name as Rushdīn ibn Saʿd) reported al-Zuhri as saying: “Knowledge is stored in repositories (khazāʾin), and it is unlocked by questions.” Al-Zuhri said: “One hunts knowledge by questioning just as one hunts game.” Ibn Shihāb used to sojourn among the Bedouin to teach them, lest knowledge be forgotten. He remarked: “Only forgetfulness and the abandonment of revision remove knowledge.” He also said: “If you seize this knowledge with arrogance, it will overcome you and you will gain nothing; but take it gently over days and nights as a friend, and you will attain it.” He observed: “Of all virtues newly manifested among people, none has amazed me more than eloquence.” He further said: “Knowledge is masculine: it is loved only by the men among men and loathed by their effeminate.” Al-Zuhri once passed by Abū Ḥāzim as the latter was about to report “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said…,” and remarked: “Why do I see hadiths that have neither muzzles nor reins?”—that is, they run unchecked. He declared: “No one has ever worshiped Allah with anything superior to knowledge.” Ibn Muslim narrated from Abū ʿĀṣim (and this report also appears in Ḥilyat al-Awliyāʾ 3:365–66) on the authority of Duḥaym, on the authority of al-Walīd ibn Muslim, from al-Qāsim ibn Hizzān, that he heard al-Zuhri say: “People do not trust the knowledge of a scholar who does not act upon it, nor do they accept the word of a scholar whom they do not approve.” Ḍumra reported from Yūnus, from al-Zuhri: “Beware of ghulūl al-kutub (monopolizing books).” He was asked, “What is their ghulūl?” He replied, “Withholding them from those entitled to them.” Al-Shāfiʿī narrated from al-Zuhri: “Attending a session without having your own copy of the text is a humiliation.” Al-Aṣmaʿī reported from Mālik ibn Anas, from Ibn Shihāb, who said: “I sat with Thāliba ibn Abī Maʿīn and he remarked, ‘I see you love knowledge.’ I replied, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘Then attach yourself to that shaykh’—meaning Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib. I studied under Saʿīd for seven years, then turned to ʿUrwa and unlocked the dam (thabaj) of his sea of knowledge.” Al-Layth transmitted that Ibn Shihāb said: “No one ever showed the patience toward a learned teacher that I did, nor did anyone ever spread his knowledge as widely as I did. As for ʿUrwa ibn al-Zubayr, he was like a well undisturbed by drawing water; as for Ibn al-Musayyib, he stood erect for the people, and thus his renown went every which way.” Makkī ibn ʿAbdān said: “Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Awsī told us that Mālik ibn Anas related: Ibn Shihāb was once asked by some members of the Umayyad family about Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib. He praised his knowledge and described his circumstances. When this reached Saʿīd, upon Ibn Shihāb’s arrival in Medina he went to greet Saʿīd, but Saʿīd neither returned his greeting nor spoke to him. As Saʿīd departed and al-Zuhri walked with him, al-Zuhri asked, ‘Why did I greet you and you did not reply? What have you heard of me? I said nothing but good of you.’ He answered, ‘You mentioned me to the people of Marwān.’” Abū Ḥātim said: “Makkī ibn ʿAbdān told us, Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā narrated to us, ʿAṭṭāf ibn Khālid al-Makhzūmī related to me from ʿAbd al-Aʿlā ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Furwa, from Ibn Shihāb, who said: ‘The people of Medina suffered a hardship during the sedition of ʿAbd al-Malik ibn…’ ” (text truncated).