Yaḥyā ibn Abī Bukayr

Related to us: Zayd ibn Yaḥyā Abū Usāma, the jurist of Balkh; he said: related to us: Yaḥyā ibn Mūsā; he said: I heard: Yaḥyā ibn Abī Bukayr saying: Abū Ḥanīfa used to say: “One day I passed al-Shaʿbī while he was sitting. He called me and asked: ‘Whom do you frequent?’ I said: ‘I frequent the market,’ and named my master to him. He said: ‘I did not mean frequenting the market; I meant frequenting scholars.’ I told him: ‘I seldom frequent them.’ He said: ‘Do not do that. Apply yourself to examining knowledge and sitting with scholars, for I see alertness and activity in you.’ His words struck my heart. I stopped frequenting the market and took up knowledge, and God benefited me through what he said.”