حدثنا يوسف بن محمد بن عبد الله، وأحمد بن محمد بن الشرقي النيسابوريان وحاتم بن محمود قالوا: حدثنا محمد بن عبد الوهاب الفراء النيسابوري، قال: سمعت المقرئ يقول:الناس رجلان: أبو حنيفة وابن لهيعة رحمة الله عليهما، وسائرهم دست شمار.
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Yūsuf ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh and Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Sharqī, both of Nishapur, and Ḥātim ibn Maḥmūd related to us. They said: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Farrāʾ al-Naysābūrī related to us. He said: I heard al-Muqriʾ say: People are two men: Abū Ḥanīfa and Ibn Lahīʿa, may God have mercy on them both. The rest are “counted on the fingers.”
The source uses the Persian phrase دست شمار (dast-shumār). Its literal sense, “counted on the fingers,” is retained here without expanding the comparison.
حدثنا يوسف بن محمد بن عبد الله النيسابوري قال: حدثنا محمد بن عبد الوهاب، قال:كنا عند المقرئ قال: حدثنا أبو حنيفة، فقال بعضهم: لا نريد، فقال: دعوه، حدثنا النعمان بن ثابت فجعلوا يكتبونه، فقال المقرئ: ﴿أَمْوَاتٌ غَيْرُ أَحْيَاءٍ﴾، قال: قوم لا يعرفون اسم أبي حنيفة ولا يعرفون فضله ولا تَقدُّمه يقولون: لا نريد، لله علي ألا أحدثكم شهراً.
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Yūsuf ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Naysābūrī related to us. He said: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us. He said: We were with al-Muqriʾ when he said: “Abū Ḥanīfa related to us.” Some of them said: “We do not want that.” He said: “Leave him aside. Al-Nuʿmān ibn Thābit related to us.” They began writing it down. Al-Muqriʾ said: “Dead, not living!” He said: “People who do not know Abū Ḥanīfa’s name, his merit, or his preeminence say: ‘We do not want that.’ I vow to God that I will not relate reports to you for a month.”
The quoted phrase “Dead, not living” is Qurʾān 16:21.