It is narrated from Imam Malik ibn Anas رحمه الله , that a man from the people of desires used to walk behind him and say:
“O Abu Abdullah! Debate with me. O Abu Abdullah! Debate with me [just one] word! O Abu Abdullah! Hear from me a word!”
He would point with his hand saying: “No, not even half a word.”
He would say: “O Abu Abdullah! Debate with me, and if you overcome me then I will follow you, and I overcome you then you will follow me.”
The Imam, was sharp, intelligent, and wise. He turned to him and said: “And if a third man should come and overcome us?”
He said: “Then we will follow him.”
He said: “Is it that every time a man comes to us who is more skilled in debating than [another] man then we will leave that which Jibra’il brought to Muhammad?”
{Sharaf Ashabil Hadith pg. 22 # 1}