Ibn Wahb related: Yaʿqūb ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān said, “I saw him—a short man with little beard, only a few long strands, and scant hair on his cheeks—meaning al-Zuhrī.”

Maʿn ibn ʿĪsā transmitted from al-Zuhrī’s nephew: “My uncle gathered the Qur’an in eighty nights.”

Al-Ḥumaydī reported from Sufyān: “I saw al-Zuhrī with a reddish head and beard, their colour somewhat muted, as though he used katam-dye. He was slightly bleary-eyed and wore his hair long. He came to us in 123 AH and stayed until the crescent of Muḥarram, 124 AH, and I was then sixteen years old.”

Maʿmar narrated from al-Zuhrī: “My knee touched the knee of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib for eight years.”

Al-Zubayr, in his Genealogies, said: Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan told me, from Mālik, from Ibn Shihāb: “I used to serve ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh—even drawing brackish water for him. He would ask his maidservant, ‘Who is at the door?’ and she would reply, ‘Your bleary-eyed page.’ ”

Ibrāhīm ibn Saʿd narrated from his father: “Ibn Shihāb did not outstrip us in knowledge except that he would tighten his cloak over his chest and freely ask whatever he wished, while youthfulness held us back.”

Ibn Abī al-Zinād reported from his father: “We used to write down only what was permissible and forbidden, whereas Ibn Shihāb wrote everything he heard. When people later needed that material, I realised he was the most knowledgeable of all. I myself saw him with tablets or sheets, writing ḥadith while still a student.”

And Abū al-Zinād said: “I would make the rounds with al-Zuhrī while he carried his tablets and pages, and we would laugh at him for it.”

Ibn Wahb transmitted from al-Layth that Ibn Shihāb used to say, “I have never entrusted something to my heart and then forgotten it.”

He disliked eating apples and drinking water left over by a mouse. He would drink honey and say, “It sharpens the memory.”

Fāʾid ibn Aqram composed lines in praise of al-Zuhrī:
“Leave that aside and extol the noble Muḥammad;
recall the virtues that set him above his peers.
Whenever the question is asked, ‘Who is generous with his wealth?’
the answer comes: ‘The open-handed one is Muḥammad ibn Shihāb.’
The townsfolk all acknowledge his station,
and word of the springtime of his gatherings reaches even the Bedouin.”