Those who transmitted from him included al-Daraqutni, Yusuf Abū al-Fath al-Qawwās, ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Dāwūd al-Razzāz, the ḥāfiẓ Abū Nuʿaym, the judge Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Wāsiṭī, and others.

Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Wāsiṭī said, “I heard Ibn al-Muẓaffar and al-Daraqutni say, ‘We never saw a single book with Ibn al-Saqqā; he would narrate to us entirely from memory.’”

ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad al-Ṭayyib al-Jullābī stated in his History of Wāsiṭ: “Ibn al-Saqqā is one of the foremost Wāsiṭī ḥadith masters, precise and reliable.”

Al-Silafī (1) said: “I asked Khumays al-Ḥawzī about Ibn al-Saqqā and he replied, ‘He is from Muzaynah of Muḍar. He was not actually a water-carrier; ‘al-Saqqā’ is merely a nickname for him (2). He was one of the notable, affluent men of Wāsiṭ and was gifted with a prodigious memory. His father took him on his travels, and he heard ḥadith from Abū Khalīfah, Abū Yaʿlā, Ibn Zaydān al-Bajalī, al-Mufaḍḍal al-Janadī, and others. Allah blessed his years and his knowledge. On one occasion he dictated the ḥadith of the Roasted Bird (3); they could not stand it, so they leapt at him, made him get up, and washed the place where he had been sitting. After that he withdrew to his house and would not relate to anyone in Wāsiṭ, which is why their collection from him is meagre.’”

He added, “He died in 371 AH; all of this was related to me by our shaykh Abū al-Ḥasan al-Maghāzilī.”

Al-Jullābī, however, said: “He passed away on the second of Jumādā al-Ākhirah in 373 AH.” (4)