Abū Nuʿaym said: Umm Dāwūd al-Wābishiyyah narrated to us, saying, “I had a lawsuit before Shurayh, and he had no beard. (1)

Ashʿath transmitted from Ibn Sīrīn, who said: “I reached Kūfa and found there four men counted among its jurists. Whoever began the list with al-Ḥārith would mention ʿUbaydah second, and whoever began with ʿUbaydah would mention al-Ḥārith second; after them came ʿAlqamah, then Shurayh. Those four—though the least of them is Shurayh—are all outstanding. (2)

Al-Shaʿbī said: “Shurayh was the most knowledgeable of them in judicial matters, and ʿUbaydah rivalled him in that knowledge. (3)

Abū Wāʾil remarked: “Shurayh rarely visited Ibn Masʿūd because he had no need of him. (4)

Al-Shaʿbī also stated: “ʿUmar appointed Ibn Sūr (5) as judge over Baṣra and appointed Shurayh as judge over Kūfa. (6)

Mujālid, reporting from al-Shaʿbī, related that ʿUmar set a stipend of one hundred dirhams for Shurayh for serving as judge.

Al-Thawrī narrated—from Abū Isḥāq, from Hubayrah ibn Yarīm—that ʿAlī gathered the people in the square of Raḥbah and said, ‘I am about to leave you.’ They assembled there and kept asking him questions until they had exhausted all they had, and no one remained save Shurayh. He knelt on his knees and continued to question ʿAlī. ʿAlī then said to him, ‘Go—you are the foremost judge among the Arabs.’ (7)