Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad al-Ṣādiq

Al-Faḍl ibn Bassām al-Bukhārī, Muḥammad ibn Khuzayma al-Balkhī, Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAlī al-Tirmidhī, and al-Ḥasan al-Farghānī related to us. They said: Muḥammad ibn al-Fuḍayl ibn Sahl, the worshipper of Balkh, related to us. He said: I heard Abū Muṭīʿ al-Ḥakam ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Balkhī say: I heard Abū Ḥanīfa, may God be pleased with him, say: I visited Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad, and he said to me: “Abū Ḥanīfa! From whom did you obtain this knowledge?” I said: “From ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, and ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās, may God be pleased with them all.” He said: “Excellent, excellent! You have secured your reliance on the good and blessed ones, may God be pleased with them all.”

The wording “from” is retained without supplying a claim of direct personal meetings with every named authority.

Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan al-Tirmidhī related to us. He said: ʿUbayd ibn Muslim related to us in Baghdad, from ʿAbd al-Majīd ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Abī Rawwād, who said: We were sitting with Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad in the Ḥijr when Abū Ḥanīfa, may God be pleased with him, came and greeted him. Jaʿfar returned his greeting, embraced him, and asked after him, even asking about his servants. When he rose, one of Jaʿfar’s family said to him: “Descendant of the Messenger of God! I do not think you know the man.” He said: “I have never seen anyone more foolish than you! I ask him about his servants, and you say: ‘You do not know this man?’ This is Abū Ḥanīfa, one of the most learned jurists of his town.”

Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Kūfī related to us. He said: Ibrāhīm ibn al-Walīd ibn Ḥammād related to us. He said: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq and Muḥammad ibn Saʿīd ibn Ḥammād informed us—Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq’s account was the more complete of the two. They said: ʿAbd al-Majīd ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Abī Rawwād informed us. He said: We were in the Ḥijr with Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad when Abū Ḥanīfa came. He greeted him, embraced him, and asked after him at length, even asking about his servants. When he rose, one of those with Jaʿfar said to him: “Descendant of the Messenger of God! I do not think you know this man.” Jaʿfar said: “I have never seen anyone more foolish than you! You see me asking him about his servants, and you say: ‘Do you know this man?’ This is Abū Ḥanīfa, one of the most learned jurists of his town.”

The source first says “I do not think you know this man,” then has the shorter “Do you know this?” in Jaʿfar’s reply. The two forms are not silently harmonized.