A Man with Good Deportment

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

Imam Yahya ibn Yahya al-Laytsi (r.a.) said, “A man with good deportment came one day to Malik.  I used to see Malik say to him, ‘Come here.’  Then, he made room for him in his assembly, and I did not see Malik make room for anyone else.  He sat ibn al-Mubarak near him.  Sometimes, Malik was asked about a question and he answered it.  Then he would lean over to the man and say to him, ‘What do your companions say about it?’  The man would reply softly so we could not hear or understand.  I saw him do that for some days, and I admired the adab of the man.  I did not see him ask about anything until he departed.  He was content with what he heard, and Malik told us, ‘This is ibn al-Mubarak, the faqih of Khurasan.’” 

Imam Abu ‘Abd ar-Rahman ‘Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak (q.s.) said, “I studied adab for thirty years and I studied knowledge for twenty years.” 

Imam Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hanbal (r.a.) said, “In the time of ibn al-Mubarak, there was no one who sought after knowledge more than him.  He went to the Yemen, Egypt, Syria, the Hijaz, Basra and Kufa, and whoever related knowledge and was worthy of it.  He wrote from young men and old men.  He omitted what was rare.  He gave ahadits from books.” 

Imam Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Wadhdhah (r.a.) said, “ibn al-Mubarak related about 25,000 ahadits.  He was asked, ‘Up until when did you study knowledge?’ 

He said, ‘I hope that you will find me doing that until I die.’”