Saʿīd al-Lakhmī (father of Ḥusayn; printed “أبي” / “أبيه”)

Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Kūfī related to us: Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Ḥāzimī related to us: Ḥusayn ibn Saʿīd al-Lakhmī related to us: My father related to us, from Muḥammad ibn ʿUmāra ibn al-Qaʿqāʿ: One night a man had an altercation with his wife and said, ‘You are to me like my mother’s back if I do not have intercourse with you tonight.’ They argued again, and he said, ‘You are to me like my mother’s back if I have intercourse with you tonight.’ He wandered about in confusion that night, seeking legal opinions. He visited most of Kufa’s jurists but found no answer from them. Then he came to Abū Ḥanīfa—may God have mercy on him—and called him out. Abū Ḥanīfa said, ‘At this hour?’ He said, ‘Abū Ḥanīfa, for God’s sake, for God’s sake! This is a calamity,’ then told him what had happened. Abū Ḥanīfa—may God have mercy on him—said, ‘Woe to you, do you have slaves?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘Then free one of them, and your oath will have been fulfilled.’

The comparison to the mother’s back is the formula of ẓihār. The report’s terse resolution is translated without adding an explanation of its legal mechanism.

Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Kūfī informed us: Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā al-Ḥāzimī related to us: Ḥusayn ibn Saʿīd al-Lakhmī related to me, from his father, from Zakariyyā ibn Abī al-ʿAtīk, who said: Rabīʿa ibn Abī ʿAbd al-Raḥmān came to Kufa while Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Anṣārī was there. Abū Ḥanīfa—may God have mercy on him—had visited Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd with his companions, and Yaḥyā related reports to them. The first he related was, ‘Actions are according to intention.’ Abū Ḥanīfa—may God be pleased with him—said, ‘We have not heard this.’ They returned to him; he related reports, and they asked him questions. He withheld no report from them. Rabīʿa then arrived in these circumstances. The Kufans visited him and said, ‘Relate reports to us.’ He said, ‘I did not come to transmit reports.’ They said, ‘Then we will ask you questions.’ He said, ‘I will not answer you.’ One of them asked, ‘Did you hear Anas—may God be pleased with him—mention some description of the Messenger of God—God bless him and grant him peace?’ He said, ‘Yes, I heard it from Anas.’ They said, ‘Then dictate it to us.’ [He said], ‘Is my saying “yes” to you not sufficient?’ He did not dictate it to them.