as well as al-Mufaḍḍal ibn Muḥammad al-Ḍabbī, Sulaymān al-Aʿmash, Abū ʿAmr, Ḥammād ibn Shuʿayb, Abān al-ʿAṭṭār, al-Ḥasan ibn Ṣāliḥ, Ḥammād ibn Abī Ziyād, Nuʿaym ibn Maysarah, and many others.

After the passing of his teacher Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī, the mantle of leadership in Qur’an instruction settled upon him.

Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh said, “When Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān died, ʿĀṣim sat to teach the people. He possessed the most melodious voice in reciting the Qur’an—it was as though little bells rang inside his throat.”

Abū Khaythamah and others stated, “The personal name of Abū al-Najūd was Bahdalah.”
Abū Ḥafṣ al-Fallās, however, maintained, “Bahdalah was his mother.”

Abū ʿUbayd said, “Among the Qur’an reciters of Kūfa were Yaḥyā ibn Waththāb, ʿĀṣim ibn Abī al-Najūd, and Sulaymān al-Aʿmash; they were all freedmen of Banū Asad.”

Ibn al-Aṣbahānī and Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl related:
“Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh narrated to us, from ʿĀṣim, from al-Ḥārith ibn Ḥassān, who said: ‘I saw the Prophet ﷺ on the pulpit while Bilāl was standing beside him with a sword slung across his shoulder.’ (1)”

Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh also said, “I heard Abū Isḥāq say, ‘I have never seen anyone who recited better than ʿĀṣim.’”

Yaḥyā ibn Ādam reported from al-Ḥasan ibn Ṣāliḥ: “I have never seen anyone more eloquent than ʿĀṣim ibn Abī al-Najūd; when he spoke, a hint of pride almost appeared in him.”

ʿAffān recounted: Ḥammād narrated to us, and ʿĀṣim ibn Abī al-Najūd informed us, saying, “Whenever I returned from a journey, Abū Wāʾil would kiss my hand.”

ʿAbdallāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal said, “I asked my father about ʿĀṣim ibn Bahdalah, and he replied, ‘A righteous, virtuous, trustworthy man.’ I then asked, ‘Which mode of recitation do you prefer?’ He answered, ‘The recitation of the people of Medina; and if not that, then the recitation of ʿĀṣim.’”