He read the Qur’an, refined its recitation, mastered it completely, and—according to the reports that have reached us—submitted his reading to ʿUthmān, then to ʿAlī and Ibn Masʿūd. He also transmitted hadith from ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, and a number of others.

Abū ʿAmr al-Dānī said: “He learned the Qur’anic recitation by formal presentation (1) from ʿUthmān, ʿAlī, Zayd, Ubayy, and Ibn Masʿūd.”

Those who took the Qur’an from him include: ʿĀṣim ibn Abī al-Najūd, Yaḥyā ibn Waṯṯāb, ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿĪsā ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Laylā, Muḥammad ibn Abī Ayyūb, al-Shaʿbī, and Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid. Ḥasan and Ḥusayn (may Allah be pleased with them both) likewise reviewed their recitation with him.

Among those who narrated from him were ʿĀṣim, Abū Isḥāq, ʿAlqamah ibn Marthad, ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, and many others.

Ḥusayn al-Juʿfī reported—through Muḥammad ibn Abān from ʿAlqamah ibn Marthad—that Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī learned the Qur’an from ʿUthmān and then presented it to ʿAlī. (Muḥammad is not considered a reliable authority.)

Abū Isḥāq said: “Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī taught the people in the Great Mosque for forty years (2).”

Saʿd ibn ʿUbaydah said: “He began teaching during the caliphate of ʿUthmān and continued until he died in the time of al-Ḥajjāj (3).”