- ʿAbd Allah ibn Abi Zakariyya, Abū Yaḥyā al-Khuzāʿī (d)
The imam, exemplar, and godly scholar, Abū Yaḥyā al-Khuzāʿī of Damascus.
He transmitted mursal reports from Salmān al-Fārisī, Abū al-Dardāʾ, ʿUbāda ibn al-Ṣāmit, and others.
He also heard directly from Umm al-Dardāʾ and others.
Those who narrated from him include Ṣafwān ibn ʿAmr, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ḥamala, al-Awzāʿī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yazīd ibn Jābir, Khālid ibn Dihqān, Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, and many more.
Abū Mushir said: “He was the chief of the people of the mosque.”
He was asked, “How did he attain that rank?”
He replied, “By his excellent character.”
Al-Wāqidī remarked: “He was regarded as the equal of ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz.”
Yamān ibn ʿAdī said: “ʿAbd Allah ibn Abī Zakariyya was the ascetic of the people of Syria, and he used to say, ‘I have found nothing in worship harder for me than remaining silent.’”
Al-Awzāʿī observed: “In Syria there was no man preferred above Ibn Abī Zakariyya.”
Baqiyya related from Muslim ibn Ziyād, who said:
“ʿAbd Allah ibn Abī Zakariyya hardly ever spoke unless he was asked, yet he was among the most cheerful people.
He said, ‘I have never handled a dinar or a dirham at all, nor have I ever bought or sold anything except on a single occasion, and my brothers provided for me.’”
Ibn Saʿd said: “He was reliable, narrated only a few hadiths, and took part in military expeditions. ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz used to seat him beside him on the couch.”
The author says: He died in 117 AH—may Allah have mercy upon them both and be pleased with them.