He heard hadith from ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn, Abū Hurayra, and Ibn ʿAbbās.
Those who transmitted from him include Ayyūb al-Sakhtiyānī, Qatāda, Bahz ibn Ḥakīm, ʿAwf al-Aʿrābī, and others.
Al-Nasāʾī—along with additional critics—declared him reliable.

It is reliably reported that during the dawn prayer he was reciting, and when he reached the verse, “Then, when the trumpet is sounded” (al-Muddaththir 74:8), he collapsed and died. This occurred in the year 93 AH.

Ishāq ibn Ṭāriq informed us; Ibn Khalīl informed us; Abū al-Makārim al-Labbān informed us; Abū ʿAlī al-Muqriʾ informed us; Abū Nuʿaym narrated to us; Sulaymān ibn Aḥmad narrated to us; Muʿādh ibn al-Muthannā narrated to us; Ibrāhīm ibn Abī Suwayd al-Dhāriʿ narrated to us; Ṣāliḥ al-Murrī—from Qatāda, from Zurāra ibn Awfā, from Ibn ʿAbbās—said:

A man asked the Prophet ﷺ, “Which deed is dearest to Allah?”
He replied, “al-Ḥāll al-Murtaḥil.”
The man said, “Messenger of Allah, what is al-Ḥāll al-Murtaḥil?”
He answered, “The companion of the Qur’an: he journeys through its beginning until he reaches its end, and through its end until he reaches its beginning.” (1)

The same wording was transmitted by Yaʿqūb al-Ḥaḍramī and Zayd ibn al-Hubāb from Ṣāliḥ, though Ṣāliḥ is weak.

ʿAttāb ibn al-Muthannā al-Qushayrī reported: Bahz ibn Ḥakīm narrated to us—
“Zurāra led us in prayer in the mosque of Banū Qushayr. When he recited, ‘Then, when the trumpet is sounded’ (al-Muddaththir 74:8), he fell down dead. I was among those who carried him to his house, and al-Ḥajjāj later arrived in Basra while an orator was still preaching there.” (2)