He transmitted from ʿUmar, ʿAlī, ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn, ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās, Samura ibn Jundub, and Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī. The Qur’an was studied under him, after which he reviewed it with Ibn ʿAbbās, even though he was older than Ibn ʿAbbās.
He was righteous and a constant reciter of the Book of Allah. Abū al-Ashhab al-ʿAtāridī and others read the Qur’an to him. Those who narrated from him include Ayyūb, Ibn ʿAwn, ʿAwf al-Aʿrābī, Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūbah, Salm ibn Zurayr, Sakhr ibn Juwayriyah, Mahdī ibn Maymūn, and many others.
Jarīr ibn Ḥāzim said, “I heard him say, ‘We fled from the Prophet ﷺ.’ I asked, ‘What does blood taste like?’ He replied, ‘Sweet.’ (1)
Al-Asmaʿī reported: Abū ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAlāʾ told us, ‘I said to Abū Rajāʾ, “What do you still remember?” He answered, “I remember the killing of Bisṭām,” and then he recited:
He fell upon the ground, no cushion beneath him—
his brow gleamed like a burnished sword. (2)
Al-Asmaʿī added, ‘Bisṭām was killed shortly before Islam.’
Abū Salamah al-Minqarī said: Abū Ḥārith al-Karmānī—who was trustworthy—narrated to us, saying, ‘I heard Abū Rajāʾ declare:
“I encountered the Prophet ﷺ when I was a smooth-cheeked youth, and I have never seen a people more astray than the Arabs. They would bring a white ewe and worship it; when a wolf carried it off, they would bring another in its place and worship that. If they saw an attractive rock, they would come …” (3)