Al-Khaṭīb said: “I consulted al-Barqānī about undertaking a journey—either to Egypt to meet Abū Muḥammad ibn al-Naḥḥās, or to Nīshāpūr to meet the pupils of al-Aṣamm. He replied, ‘If you travel to Egypt you are going for the sake of a single man; if you miss him, your entire trip is lost. But if you go to Nīshāpūr there is a whole group; should you miss one of them, you will still find the rest.’ So I set out for Nīshāpūr. (1)

Al-Khaṭīb relates in his History: “I used to review hadiths with Abū Bakr al-Barqānī; he would write them down from me and incorporate them into his collections. He narrated from me both in my presence and in my absence. ʿĪsā ibn Aḥmad al-Hamadhānī told me: ‘Abū Bakr al-Khwārazmī informed us in the year 420 AH, saying, “Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī ibn Thābit narrated to us, saying, ‘Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Ṣayrafī narrated to us, saying, “al-Aṣamm narrated to us …,”’ and he mentioned a hadith.’” (2)

Ibn Mākūlā said: “Abū Bakr was the last of the notable scholars whom we personally met who combined broad knowledge, exceptional memorization, precision, and mastery of the hadith of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him—well-versed in its hidden defects and chains of transmission, and fully acquainted with its authentic, singular, anomalous, disapproved, and discarded reports. After Abū al-Ḥasan al-Dāraquṭnī, the Baghdadis had not seen his equal. (3)

I asked Abū ʿAbd Allah al-Ṣūrī about al-Khaṭīb and Abū Naṣr al-Sijzī, ‘Which of them has the better memory?’ He clearly gave precedence to al-Khaṭīb. (4)