What they said about Arabic Narrated with its chain
Recounting what happened with his teacher al-A‘mash:
“[Waki' said:] I came to al-A'mash to hear hadith from him, and I would sometimes make grammatical mistakes. He said: 'Abu Sufyan, you have left what is more fitting for you than hadith.' I said: 'Abu Muhammad, what is more fitting than hadith?' He said: 'Grammar.' So al-A'mash dictated grammar to me, and then dictated hadith.”
Waki‘ ibn al-Jarrah
d. 197 AH / 812 CE
Hadith master of Kufa, teacher of al-Shafi‘i and Ahmad ibn Hanbal, recounting what his own teacher al-A‘mash told him.
The Arabic original
أَتَيْتُ الْأَعْمَشَ أَسْمَعُ مِنْهُ الْحَدِيثَ، وَكُنْتُ رُبَّمَا لَحَنْتُ، فَقَالَ لِي: يَا أَبَا سُفْيَانَ، تَرَكْتَ مَا هُوَ أَوْلَى بِكَ مِنَ الْحَدِيثِ! فَقُلْتُ: يَا أَبَا مُحَمَّدٍ، وَأَيُّ شَيْءٍ أَوْلَى مِنَ الْحَدِيثِ؟ فَقَالَ: النَّحْوُ. فَأَمْلَى عَلَيَّ الْأَعْمَشُ النَّحْوَ، ثُمَّ أَمْلَى عَلَيَّ الْحَدِيثَ.
Source
al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, al-Jami' li-Akhlaq al-Rawi, ed. Mahmud al-Tahhan, Maktabat al-Ma'arif, Riyadh, vol. 2, p. 26, no. 1071
The English translation is Voice of Arabic's, made from the original.
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