Ath-Thawrī, reporting from Manṣūr, from Ibrāhīm, said: “They would take nothing from Abū Hurayrah’s narrations except what spoke of Paradise or Hellfire.”⦗1⦘

I say: This objection amounts to nothing, for the Muslims—earlier and later—have always adduced his ḥadith as evidence, thanks to his prodigious memory, eminence, precision, and insight. Is it not enough that someone of the stature of Ibn ʿAbbās would defer to him and say, “Give the ruling, Abū Hurayrah”?

The soundest chains are those transmitted:
• from al-Zuhrī, through Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, from Abū Hurayrah;
• and those of Abū al-Zinād, through al-Aʿraj, from Abū Hurayrah;
• and those of Ibn ʿAwn and Ayyūb, through Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn, from Abū Hurayrah.

Where will you find the like of Abū Hurayrah in accuracy of recall and breadth of knowledge?

Ḥammād ibn Zayd narrated, from ʿAbbās al-Jurayrī: I heard Abū ʿUthmān al-Nahdī say, “I was Abū Hurayrah’s guest for seven nights. He, his wife, and his servant used to divide the night into three watches: one would pray, then wake the next, who would pray and then wake the third.”

I asked, “O Abū Hurayrah, how do you fast?”
He replied, “I fast three days at the beginning of every month.”⦗2⦘

Ibn Saʿd said: Yaḥyā ibn ʿAbbād related to us; Ḥammād ibn Salamah related to us, from Hishām