and whenever I saw him kneeling, I would say, “This man is now standing before the Reckoning.” Then he would plead, “O Lord, I committed such-and-such a sin and You pardoned me, and I shall never return to it; I committed such-and-such a sin and You pardoned me, and I shall never return to it.”

Yaḥyā ibn ʿĪsā al-Ramlī narrated—on the authority of al-Aʿmash—who said:
“Yaḥyā ibn Waththāb was one of the finest people in Qurʾanic recitation. More than once I wished I could kiss his head because of the beauty of his recitation. Whenever he recited, no movement could be heard in the mosque, as though not a single soul were present.”

Humayd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān reported: my father told us, from al-Aʿmash:
“Whenever Yaḥyā finished his prayer, he would remain seated for a long while; the solemnity of the prayer was still visible upon him.”

Aḥmad al-ʿIjlī said: “He was a Successor, reliable, a master-reciter who led his people in prayer. Al-Ḥajjāj had decreed that no one should lead the prayer in Kūfah except an Arab, yet he made an exception for Yaḥyā ibn Waththāb, who led them once and then desisted.”

ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā said: “Al-Aʿmash used to say, ‘Yaḥyā ibn Waththāb is a better reciter than anyone who walks the earth.’”

Yaḥyā ibn Ādam said: I heard al-Ḥasan ibn Ṣāliḥ say, “Yaḥyā read to ʿAlqamah, and ʿAlqamah read to Ibn Masʿūd—what chain of recitation could be superior to that?⦗1⦘”

Makhlad ibn Khidāsh said: “I heard al-Aʿmash say, ‘I have never seen anyone on this earth whose recitation surpasses that of Yaḥyā ibn Waththāb.’”

Al-Haytham ibn ʿAdī and others said: “Yaḥyā ibn Waththāb died in 103 AH.”

A group of transmitters related—from Abū Isḥāq—from Yaḥyā—the hadith from Ibn ʿUmar: “Whoever sets out for the Friday prayer should perform a ritual bath.”