Ḥammād ibn Dalīl Abū Zayd

Abū Zayd ʿImrān ibn Firīnām related to us. He said: al-Fatḥ ibn Ḥusayn related to us. He said: I heard al-Qāsim ibn Isḥāq say: I heard Ibrāhīm ibn al-Ashʿath say: When a legal question arose in Mecca and al-Fuḍayl was asked about it, he directed people to Abū Zayd, saying: “Go and ask Abū Zayd.” One day I said to him: “May God have mercy on you! When a question concerning religion arises for you, you say: ‘Go and ask Abū Zayd.’” He said: “My son”—or “Bukhārī”—“these are people who have investigated this matter and pursued it. This matter cannot be set right without them.”

I heard ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUbayd Allāh say: I heard my father say: I heard Ibrāhīm ibn al-Ashʿath say: Al-Fuḍayl used to send legal questions to Ḥammād ibn Dalīl, Abū Zayd, who was one of Abū Ḥanīfa’s companions, may God be pleased with him. I said to him: “You criticize them and then send legal questions to him?!” He said: “He is an intelligent man.” His father mentioned something similar.

Abū Maʿshar Ḥamdawayh ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, the blind man, related to us. He said: Nūḥ ibn Aʿyan wrote to Ṣafar ibn Ibrāhīm: “Ask al-Fuḍayl for me about a frog that fell into thickened syrup.” I asked him, and he said: “Ask Abū Zayd. They have investigated what we have not investigated and asked about what we have not asked about.” I asked him, and he said: “I left the governor’s residence with Abū Yūsuf, who was riding a donkey. A man asked him about this, and he said: ‘It does not spoil the syrup.’” Abū Maʿshar said: Ṣafar ibn Ibrāhīm related reports to me, and then related this one to us.