Ash-Shaʿbī (rahimahullāh) said: “Abū Salamah used to argue and dispute with Ibn ʿAbbās — and because of that, he was deprived of much knowledge.” Thus he was prevented from benefitting from him. Abū Salamah himself later admitted this, regretting his behaviour and lamenting what he had done. In the final part of his life he said: “Had I been gentle and patient with Ibn ʿAbbās, I would have attained from him a great amount of knowledge.”
Imām al-Dārimī recorded this in his Sunan (1/394, no. 426), and al-Khatīb al-Baghdādī in al-Jāmiʿ li Akhlāq al-Rāwī wa Ādāb as-Sāmiʿ (1/209, no. 382).
قالَ الشَّعْبِيُّ – رَحِمَهُ اللهُ –:
«كانَ أَبُو سَلَمَةَ يُمَارِي ابْنَ عَبَّاسٍ؛ فَحُرِمَ بِذٰلِكَ عِلْمًا كَثِيرًا»
وَحُرِمَ الِاسْتِفَادَةَ مِنْهُ، وَقَدِ اعْتَرَفَ أَبُو سَلَمَةَ بِذٰلِكَ وَتَحَسَّرَ عَلَى سُلُوكِهِ وَنَدِمَ عَلَى مَا كَانَ مِنْهُ، وَقَالَ فِي آخِرِ حَيَاتِهِ:
«لَوْ رَفَقْتُ بِابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ؛ لَأَصَبْتُ مِنْهُ عِلْمًا كَثِيرًا»
أَخْرَجَهُ الدَّارِمِيُّ فِي سُنَنِهِ (١/ ٣٩٤) رَقْم (٤٢٦)، وَالْخَطِيبُ الْبَغْدَادِيُّ فِي الْجَامِعِ لِأَخْلَاقِ الرَّاوِي وَآدَابِ السَّامِع (١/ ٢٠٩) رَقْم (٣٨٢).
