Al-Ḥumaydī (1) said: “Abū ʿUmar was a jurist and ḥāfiẓ, a prolific transmitter, well-versed in the Qurʾānic readings, in the divergent views of the schools, and in the sciences of ḥadith and of narrators. He had been attending sessions from early childhood, never left al-Andalus, and in jurisprudence he often inclined toward the opinions of al-Shāfiʿī.”

I add: In the fundamentals of creed he adhered to the path of the salaf; he did not enter into speculative theology, but simply followed the footsteps of his teachers, may Allah have mercy on them.

Abū al-Ḥusayn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad, the ḥāfiẓ, reported to us; ʿAlī ibn Hibat Allāh al-Khaṭīb reported to us; Abū al-Qāsim al-Ruʿaynī reported to us; Abū al-Ḥasan ibn Huthayl reported to us; Abū Dāwūd ibn Najāḥ said:

Abū ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-Barr informed us; Saʿīd ibn Naṣr reported to us; Qāsim ibn Aṣbagh narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn Waḍḍāḥ narrated to us; Yaḥyā ibn Yaḥyā narrated to us; Mālik narrated to us, from Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, who said: ʿUbādah ibn al-Walīd ibn ʿUbādah informed me, from his father, from his grandfather, who said:

“We pledged allegiance to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to listen and obey in ease and in hardship, in enthusiasm and in reluctance; that we would not dispute the authority of its people; and that we would speak—or stand—for the truth wherever we might be, not fearing for Allah’s sake the blame of any critic.”

It also reached us with higher chains: Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān reported to us; ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad reported to us; Abū al-Faḍl al-Mubārak ibn al-Mubārak al-Simsār reported to us during my recitation in the year (561); Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṭalḥah reported to us; ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Muḥammad narrated to us; al-Ḥusayn ibn Ismāʿīl narrated to us; Aḥmad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Madanī narrated to us; Mālik—who then cited the very same report.

Al-Bukhārī (2) likewise recorded it, through Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Uways, from Mālik.