the Quran, reciting before the companions of ʿAlī and Ibn Masʿūd until he became the foremost reciter of his generation.

Waththāb thus bequeathed this distinction to his descendants, who came to enjoy leadership in both the religious and worldly spheres. Yaḥyā surpassed his contemporaries in mastery of the Quran and the transmitted reports, while Waththāb’s son Khālid—and Khālid’s two sons, Azhar and Makhlad—excelled in worldly authority and provincial governance. The family’s standing has remained unbroken down to our own day in Isfahan, and they are famed for their wealth, their landed estates (1), and their considerable share of prestige and renown.

I (the author) state: he narrated ḥadith from Ibn ʿAbbās and Ibn ʿUmar.

He also transmitted, in mursal form, from ʿĀʾishah, Abū Hurayrah, and Ibn Masʿūd.

In addition, he reported from Ibn al-Zubayr, Masrūq, ʿAlqamah, Zir, al-Aswad ibn Yazīd, ʿUbaydah al-Salmānī, and Abū ʿAmr al-Shaybānī.

Abū ʿAmr al-Dānī said: “Yaḥyā ibn Waththāb received the Qurʾānic reading, through direct presentation, from ʿAlqamah, Masrūq, al-Aswad, al-Shaybānī, and al-Sulamī.”

I add: what is firmly established is that he recited the entire Quran before ʿUbayd ibn Nuḍaylah, a close student of ʿAlqamah, memorising under him one verse each day (2).

Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh related—on the authority of ʿĀṣim—that “Yaḥyā ibn Waththāb learned from ʿUbayd, verse by verse, and, by Allah, he was a true master-reciter” (3).

I further note: those who studied the Quran with him included al-Aʿmash, Ṭalḥah ibn Muṣarrif, Abū Ḥuṣayn, Ḥumrān ibn Aʿyan, and a number of others.

Those who narrated from him were ʿĀṣim, Abū al-ʿUmays ʿUtbah al-Masʿūdī, Abū Isḥāq al-Sabīʿī, Abū Isḥāq al-Shaybānī, Qatādah, Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit, al-Aʿmash, and several others.

ʿAtāʾ ibn Muslim said: “al-Aʿmash used to say, ‘Yaḥyā ibn Waththāb narrated to me…’”