He transmitted ḥadith from ʿUmar, ʿAlī, Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, Abū Dharr, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām, and a number of others.

Abū ʿAmr al-Dānī said: He recited the Qur’an before ʿUthmān and ʿAlī.

Those who read the Qur’an to him were his son Abū Ḥarb, Naṣr ibn ʿĀṣim al-Laythī, Ḥumrān ibn Aʿyan, and Yaḥyā ibn Yaʿmar.

I say: the sound position is that this Ḥumrān actually recited to Abū Ḥarb ibn Abī al-Aswad—yes.

Among those who narrated from him were his son, Yaḥyā ibn Yaʿmar, Ibn Burayda, ʿUmar the client of Ghufra, and others.

Aḥmad al-ʿIjlī said: He is trustworthy; he was the first to speak about nahw (Arabic grammar).

Al-Wāqidī said: He embraced Islam during the Prophet’s lifetime—peace and blessings be upon him.

Others stated: Abū al-Aswad fought at the Battle of the Camel on the side of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib; he was one of the leading figures among the Shīʿah and among them the most intelligent and judicious.

ʿAlī—may Allah be pleased with him—ordered him to devise something in grammar when he heard errors in speech. Abū al-Aswad showed him what he had composed, whereupon ʿAlī exclaimed, “How excellent is this nahw you have pursued!” From that utterance the discipline came to be called nahw.

It is said that Abū al-Aswad tutored ʿUbayd Allāh, the son of the governor Ziyād ibn Abīh.

Ibn Dāb reported that Abū al-Aswad visited Muʿāwiyah after the death of ʿAlī; Muʿāwiyah seated him close and granted him an exceptionally generous gift.

Muḥammad ibn Sallām al-Jumaḥī (1) said: “Abū al-Aswad was the first to set down the chapter of …”