“My teacher said (1).”

Al-Ṣūrī relates: “I heard the ḥadith master ʿAbd al-Ghanī say, ‘The people who have spoken best about the ḥadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ are three: Ibn al-Madīnī in his era, Mūsā ibn Hārūn—meaning Ibn al-Ḥammāl—in his era, and al-Dāraquṭnī in his era (2).’”

Judge Abū al-Ṭayyib al-Ṭabarī said, “Al-Dāraquṭnī was the Commander of the Faithful in ḥadith (3).”

Al-Azhari said: “Al-Dāraquṭnī was remarkably intelligent; whenever any branch of knowledge—whatever it might be—was mentioned (4), he was found to possess a large share of it. Muḥammad ibn Ṭalḥah al-Niʿālī told me that he once attended an evening banquet with Abū al-Ḥasan at someone’s house. During the gathering, the topic of the ‘gluttons’ arose, whereupon Abū al-Ḥasan began citing reports, tales, and witty anecdotes about them, and he spent most of the night on that subject.

“On another occasion,” Al-Azhari continued, “I saw Ibn Abī al-Fawāris ask al-Dāraquṭnī about the hidden defect of a ḥadith or about a particular name. He answered him and then said, ‘O Abū al-Fatḥ, there is no one between East and West who knows this besides me.’”

Judge Abū al-Ṭayyib al-Ṭabarī said: “I was in the presence of al-Dāraquṭnī after the ḥadiths he had compiled on touching the male organ (5) had been read aloud to him, and he remarked, ‘Had Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal…’”