Shuʿbah said, “I asked Sahl ibn Kuhayl about him, and he replied, ‘Abu al-Bakhtari is dearer to me than he is.’ (1)

Ibn ʿAdi remarked, “There is nothing objectionable in his hadith.”

Shuʿbah also said, “I once asked al-Hakam, ‘Why did you not transmit from him—meaning Zādhān?’ He answered, ‘He was overly talkative.’ (1)

Abu Aḥmad al-Ḥākim stated, “In their estimation he is not strong.” Such were the words of Abu Aḥmad. (2)

Ibn ʿAdi further noted, “He repented at the hands of Ibn Masʿūd.”

Abu Hāshim al-Rummānī relates: Zādhān said, “I was a young man with a pleasant voice, adept at playing the ṭunbūr (lute). I was sitting with a companion of mine; we had some nabīdh and I was singing for them. Ibn Masʿūd passed by, came in, struck the bowl (3) so that its contents scattered, and broke the ṭunbūr. Then he said, ‘Young man, if the beauty of your voice were heard reciting the Qur’an, you would indeed be something.’ He went on his way. I asked my companions, ‘Who is that?’ They said, ‘That is Ibn Masʿūd.’ Repentance was cast into my heart, so I hurried after him weeping and seized his garment. He turned toward me, embraced me, wept, and said, ‘Welcome to one whom Allah loves—sit down.’ Then he went inside and brought out some dates for me. (4)”

Zubayd said, “I saw Zādhān pray as though he were a motionless tree-trunk. (5)”

It is related that Zādhān once said, “I am hungry,” whereupon a loaf the size of a millstone fell before him. (6)

And it was said that when he sold a garment, he never named a price for it. (7)

He died in 82 AH.