He transmitted ḥadith from Abū Dharr, Abū al-Dardāʾ, Ḥudhayfah, Abū Mūsā, Shaddād ibn Aws, ʿUbādah ibn al-Ṣāmit, Abū Hurayrah, ʿAwf ibn Mālik al-Ashjaʿī, ʿUqbah ibn ʿĀmir al-Juhanī, al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah, Ibn ʿAbbās, Muʿāwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥawālah, Abū Muslim al-Khawlānī, and many others.
Abū ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-Barr (1) said, “His having heard from Muʿādh ibn Jabal is sound.”
Abū Dāwūd likewise stated that Abū Idrīs heard from both Abū al-Dardāʾ and ʿUbādah.
I say: Among those who narrated from him were Abū Salām al-Aswad, Makḥūl, Ibn Shihāb, ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿĀmir al-Yaḥṣubī, Yaḥyā ibn Yaḥyā al-Ghassānī, ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Muslim, Abū Qilābah al-Jarmī, Muḥammad ibn Yazīd al-Raḥabī, Yūnus ibn Maysarah ibn Ḥalbas, Yazīd ibn Abī Maryam, Rabīʿah al-Qaṣīr, and others.
Although he was not a prolific transmitter, he enjoyed remarkable stature. Duḥaym was asked about him and about Jubayr: “Which of them is more knowledgeable?”
He answered, “Abū Idrīs has the upper hand,” yet he also spoke highly of Jubayr ibn Nufayr for the soundness of his chains and narrations (2).
I add: These two, together with Kathīr ibn Murrah, Qabīṣah ibn Dhūʾayb, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥayrīz al-Jumaḥī, and Umm al-Dardāʾ, were the scholars of Syria in their time, during the reign of ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān and even before.
Aḥmad ibn Zuhayr said: I heard Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn declare, “Abū Idrīs did, in fact, hear from Abū Dharr.” (3)
Yūnus related from Ibn Shihāb: “Abū Idrīs al-Khawlānī narrated to me, and he was one of the jurists of the people of Syria.”