Al-Ḥasan ibn al-Rabīʿ

The teacher Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Ḥafṣ said: Some detractors and envious people claim that ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak abandoned Abū Ḥanīfa’s views, questions and transmission. Abū ʿAbd Allāh said: I heard a man in Mecca say this, and told al-Ḥasan ibn al-Rabīʿ, one of Ibn al-Mubārak’s companions. He answered: “They lie about ʿAbd Allāh. Three days before his death, I heard him transmit from Abū Ḥanīfa and mention his legal questions. Do not believe anyone who tells you otherwise: he is a liar.” Al-Ḥasan ibn al-Rabīʿ then said: We entered upon Abū Ḥanīfa with Ibn al-Mubārak. Musāwir the poet was there, reciting additional verses in praise of Abū Ḥanīfa:

“The imam of the Muslims, Abū Ḥanīfa, adorned the lands and those within them. He did not measure matters by desire, but with mindfulness and fear, using noble reports transmitted with chains from the distinguished people of earlier times. He clarified difficult cases for creation, cases that had been left unresolved.”

Then Abū Ḥanīfa gave this poet a thousand dirhams. ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak answered the poet:

“I understood your words and answered them with praise of Abū Ḥanīfa. Abū Ḥanīfa was righteous, mindful and devoted to worship, unlike a carcass. He transmitted his reports and answered through them, like eagles flying from a lofty height. He had no equal in Iraq, the two eastern regions or Kufa.”