and from ʿUthmān, ʿAlī, Suhayb, and Muḥammad ibn Maslamah. Most of his fully-traced narrations go back to Abū Hurayrah—Saʿīd was married to his daughter. He also learned from the associates of ʿUmar and ʿUthmān. It used to be said, “No one was better informed than he about every ruling handed down by ʿUmar and ʿUthmān.” (1)

Qudāmah ibn Mūsā said, “Ibn al-Musayyib would deliver legal opinions while the Companions were still alive.” (1)

Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Ḥabbān said, “The person foremost in issuing fatwas in his time was Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, and he was called ‘the jurist of the jurists.’” (1)

Al-Wāqidī related: Thawr ibn Zayd narrated to us, from Makḥūl, who said, “Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib is the scholar of the scholars.” (1)

ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn said, “Ibn al-Musayyib is the most knowledgeable of people regarding the earlier reports, and the most profound of them in legal opinion.” (2)

Jaʿfar ibn Burqān reported that Maymūn ibn Mihrān told him, “I came to Medina and asked who among its people was the most learned jurist, and I was directed to Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib.” (3)

I say: This is Maymūn’s own statement, even though he met Abū Hurayrah and Ibn ʿAbbās.

ʿUmar ibn al-Walīd al-Shannī, on the authority of Shihāb ibn ʿAbbād al-ʿAṣarī, said: “I performed the pilgrimage, and when we reached Medina we asked who among its people was the most knowledgeable. They replied, ‘Saʿīd.’” (4)

I add: ʿUmar is not a strong transmitter; this was the judgment of al-Nasāʾī.

Maʿn ibn ʿĪsā, reporting from Mālik, said: “ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz would not issue a ruling….”