Al-Tirmidhi transmitted—on the authority of al-Bukhari—that the latter said, “Ḥabīb did not hear anything from ʿUrwah.”
Abu Dawud said: It is related from Sufyān al-Thawri that he remarked, “Ḥabīb never narrated to us except from ʿUrwah al-Muzani.”
I say: Among those who reported from him were ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ—this appears in the Sunan of al-Nasāʾī and Ibn Mājah—and Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh, who was the last of his students. According to him, as well as Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Numayr and al-Bukhari, he died in 119 AH.
Ibn Saʿd, however, transmitted—through al-Haytham, from Yaḥyā ibn Salamah ibn Kuhayl—that Ḥabīb died in 122 AH, during the governorship of Yūsuf ibn ʿUmar.
I (al-Dhahabi) say: He was in his eighties and is, beyond any doubt, reliable.
Al-Dūlābi erred in listing him among the weak narrators merely on the strength of Ibn ʿAwn’s remark, “He was one-eyed.” That description concerns his eyesight and is no blemish on his reliability.
Al-Bukhari also said of him, “He heard (hadith) from Ibn ʿUmar and Ibn ʿAbbās.”
Zāfir ibn Sulaymān narrated—through Abū Sinān, from Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit—that he said, “Whoever places his forehead on the ground for Allah has been cleared of pride.”
Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh said, “I once saw Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit in prostration; had you seen him, you would have thought he was dead—meaning, because of the length of his prostration.”
Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAmīrah informed us; ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad the jurist informed us; Abū Bakr ibn al-Naqqūr informed us; Abū al-Qāsim al-Ribʿī informed us; Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Makhlad informed us; Jaʿfar al-Khuldī narrated to us; al-Ḥārith ibn Abī Usāmah narrated to us; al-Ḥasan ibn Qutaybah narrated to us; Misʿar narrated to us, from Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit, from Abū al-ʿAbbās, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr, who said:
A man came to the Prophet ﷺ seeking permission to take part in jihad. The Prophet asked, “Are your parents alive?” He replied, “Yes.” He said, “Then strive on their behalf.”
Bukhari and Muslim (1) also recorded this report through the isnād of al-Aʿmash, from Ḥabīb.
The personal name of Abū al-ʿAbbās is al-Sāʾib ibn Farrūkh.