Reference: Siyar A’laam an-Nubalaa – Volume 8, Page 378
It was said to Ibn al-Mubaarak:
When you have prayed, why do you not sit with us?
He replied:
I sit with the sahaabah and the taabi’oon – [what I mean is] I read their books and [benefit from] their narrations; [this is what I do], so what would I do [sitting] with you? You [just] backbite the people.
