Those who narrated from him include his son, Mūsā ibn ʿUlayy—who transmitted from him in great abundance—Yazīd ibn Abī Ḥabīb, Ḥumayd ibn Hāniʾ, Maʿrūf ibn Suwayd, and a number of others.

He ranked among the senior scholars of the Successors, and he once paid an official visit to Muʿāwiyah.

He related: “I was standing behind my tutor when I heard him weeping. I asked, ‘What is the matter?’ He answered, ‘The Commander of the Believers, ʿUthmān, has been killed,’ and at the time I was in Syria.”

Ibn Yūnus said: It is reported that he was born the year of (the Battle of) Yarmūk. He also said that he lost an eye on the day of the naval expedition of Dhāt al-Ṣawārī while at sea with the commander ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿd ibn Abī Sarḥ, in the year 34 AH (1).

He enjoyed high standing with the governor ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Marwān. It was he who escorted the governor’s daughter, Umm al-Banīn, to Syria, where her wedding to al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik was celebrated. Later, however, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz’s attitude toward him changed, and he dispatched him to Ifrīqiyyah, where he remained posted on the frontier until his death.

Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal was asked about him and said, “I know nothing about him but good.”

Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Muqriʾ said: “Whenever the Umayyads heard of a newborn named ʿAlī, they would kill him. When this reached Rabāḥ, he changed his son’s name.” (2)

It was said that ʿUlayy died in 114 AH. Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī al-ʿAddās placed his death in 117 AH. If he was indeed born in the year of Yarmūk, then he had surpassed one hundred years of age—may Allah have mercy on him.

It is also said that the number of his hadith reports ranges from five hundred to six hundred.

36 – al-Musayyab ibn Rāfiʿ, Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Asadī * (ʿ)
The eminent jurist, Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Asadī al-Kāhilī, a Kūfan—trustworthy and firmly relied upon.