Ḥawshab to a banquet, and I accompanied him. We entered and ate from their food (1). Yet when Shahr heard the sound of the mizmar (reed-pipe), he put his two fingers in his ears and left.

Harb al-Karmānī reported from Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal: “Shahr is thiqah—how excellent are his narrations (2)!”

Ḥanbal (3) said: “I heard Abū ʿAbd Allah say, ‘There is nothing wrong with Shahr.’ ”

Al-Tirmidhī said: Muḥammad—meaning al-Bukhārī—stated, “Shahr’s ḥadīth are ḥasan.” He reinforced his standing and added: “The only one who spoke against him was Ibn ʿAwn, yet even he narrated from a man who had transmitted from Shahr (4).”

Aḥmad al-ʿIjli said: “Reliable.”

ʿAbbās transmitted from Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn: “Shahr is thabt (firm) (5).”

Abū Zurʿah and others said: “There is no harm in him.”

Al-Nasāʾī said: “He is not strong.”

Ibn ʿAdī said: “His reports are not to be taken as proof, nor should religious practice be based on them.”

Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī said: “He is no worse than Abū al-Zubayr al-Makkī, yet his ḥadīth are still not cited as evidence.”

Muʿāwiyah ibn Ṣāliḥ and Aḥmad ibn Zuhayr related from Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn that Shahr is reliable.

Al-Naḍr ibn Shumayl reported from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAwn, who said: “They abandoned Shahr (6).”