Abu ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAlāʾ said: I once said to ʿAṭāʾ, “On that day you were a real khanshalīl(1) with the sword.”
He replied, “They were the ones who burst in upon us.”

Jarīr ibn Ḥāzim said: “I saw ʿAṭāʾ’s hand hanging useless—he had been struck during the uprising of Ibn al-Zubayr.”

Abū al-Malīḥ al-Raqqī said: “I saw ʿAṭāʾ—he was dark-skinned and used to dye his hair with henna.”

ʿAbbās reported from Ibn Maʿīn that he said: “ʿAṭāʾ was a kuttāb teacher (i.e., he taught children the Qur’an).”

Khalid ibn Abī Nawf narrated from ʿAṭāʾ that he said: “I met 200 of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.”

Sufyān al-Thawrī narrated from ʿUmar ibn Saʿīd ibn Abī Ḥusayn, from his mother, that she sent to Ibn ʿAbbās to ask him about something, and he said, “People of Mecca! You crowd around me while you have ʿAṭāʾ among you!”

Qabīṣa transmitted the same report from Sufyān but attributed it to Ibn ʿUmar instead of Ibn ʿAbbās.

Bishr ibn al-Sarī narrated from ʿUmar ibn Saʿīd, from his mother, that she saw the Prophet ﷺ in a dream and he said to her, “The leader of the Muslims is ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ.”

Abū ʿĀṣim al-Thaqafī said: “I heard Abū Jaʿfar al-Bāqir say to the assembled people, ‘You must turn to ʿAṭāʾ; by Allah, he is better for you than I am.’”

And Abū Jaʿfar said: “Take from ʿAṭāʾ whatever you can.”

Aslam al-Minqarī related from Abū Jaʿfar that he said: “No one still walking the earth knows more about the rites of Ḥajj than ʿAṭāʾ.”

ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Abī Ḥāzim narrated from his father: “I never met anyone more knowledgeable about Ḥajj than ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ.”

Abū Ḥafṣ al-Abbār reported from Ibn Abī Laylā who said: “I entered upon ʿAṭāʾ, and he began…"