This hadith is sound and singular. It was recorded by Abū Dāwūd, al-Tirmidhī, and al-Nasāʾī (1) through the narration of Shuʿbah, so it has reached us with an elevated chain. “Ibn Abī Rāfiʿ” here is ʿUbayd Allah.
84 – Ibn Abī al-Muhājir Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUbayd Allah al-Dimashqī * (Kh, M, D, S, Q)
He was the eminent imam Abū ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd al-Dimashqī, a client of the Banū Makhzūm and the jurist-tutor of the sons of the Caliph ʿAbd al-Malik, counted among the reliable scholars.
He narrated from al-Sāʾib ibn Yazīd, Anas ibn Mālik, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ghanm, Umm al-Dardāʾ, and others.
Among those who transmitted from him are al-Awzāʿī, Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, and a number of others.
Aḥmad al-ʿIjlī and others declared him trustworthy.
Rajāʾ ibn Abī Salamah reported from Maʿn al-Tanūkhī: “I have never seen anyone more ascetic than he and ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz. ʿUmar once appointed him governor of the Maghrib, where he remained for two years; after him they appointed Yazīd ibn Abī Muslim.”
Shabbāb said: “Most of the Berbers accepted Islam during Ismāʿīl’s governorship, and he had an excellent record.”
Abū Mushir stated: “Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUbayd Allah met Muʿāwiyah while still a youth.”
It is related that ʿAbd al-Malik said to him, “O Ismāʿīl, teach my children. I am not paying you for the Quran; rather, I am paying you for grammar.”
He died in 132 AH, three months before the Abbasids entered Damascus by force.