صفر بن إبراهيم

Zakariyyā ibn Yaḥyā ibn Yūsuf related to us. He said: ʿAlī ibn Muḥallab, Abū al-Ḥasan al-Qaṣīr, related to us. He said: I heard Ṣafar ibn Ibrāhīm say: I was with al-Fuḍayl in Mecca when a letter reached me from Bukhara containing a question: a frog had fallen into thickened syrup and died. I asked al-Fuḍayl about it, and he said: “I do not know.” I said: “Whom should I ask?” He said: “[Ask] Yaḥyā ibn Sulaym, and tell me what he says.” I asked him, and he said: “I do not know.” I said to him: “Whom should I ask?” He said: “Ask Sufyān ibn ʿUyayna.” I went to him and found him praying, so I waited until he finished and asked him. He said: “I do not know.” A man came up to me and called me over. He said: “What are you asking about?” I said: “A question [arose], and I asked al-Fuḍayl. He did not know and directed me to Yaḥyā. I asked him, but he did not know. I also asked Ibn ʿUyayna, but he did not know.” He said to me: “Go to Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan, the man praying by the waterspout.” I went [to him] and found him praying. I waited, and he ended his prayer with the salutation. He said to me: “What do you want?” I said: “A frog fell into thickened syrup and died in it. May it be eaten?” He said: “That is its place.” I said: “How can a frog have a place in syrup?” He said to me: “What would you say if it fell into water?” I said: “There would be no harm.” He said: “It is the same in syrup, too.” I returned to al-Fuḍayl and told him. He marveled and shook his head.

Rubb is rendered “thickened syrup.” The brief reply “That is its place” is retained without supplying an explanation not stated in the text. Printed brackets are preserved.

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.