that he exhibited only a slight inclination toward Shiʿism and that his eyesight had become dim from constant weeping.

I say: his so-called Shiʿi leaning was nothing more than love and loyalty.

Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī said, “Al-Aʿmash was a ḥāfiẓ—an outstanding memorizer—but he practiced tadlīs and sometimes mixed his transmissions, whereas Manṣūr was more exacting than he, neither confusing narrations nor practicing tadlīs.”

Ibrāhīm ibn Mūsā al-Farrāʾ stated, “The most reliable traditionist of Kūfah is Manṣūr, followed by Misʿar.”

Abū Aḥmad al-Ḥākim writes in his work al-Kunā: “Abū ʿAttāb Manṣūr ibn al-Muʿtamir ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rabīʿah. Some say he was the son of al-Muʿtamir ibn ʿAttāb ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rabīʿah; others say he was the son of al-Muʿtamir ibn ʿAttāb ibn Farqad al-Sulamī, from the clan of Buhthah ibn Sulaym, a branch that includes al-ʿAbbās ibn Mirdās and Mujāshiʿ ibn Masʿūd, both of whom were Sulamīs. His grandfather ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rabīʿah al-Sulamī had seen the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—so by lineage Manṣūr is counted among the Successors (tābiʿīn).”

He heard ḥadīth from Zayd ibn Wahb and Abū Wāʾil Shaqīq ibn Salamah, and he is reported to have transmitted—through an intermediary—from Anas ibn Mālik, if that chain is indeed sound.

Among those who narrated from him were Sulaymān al-Taymī, Ḥuṣayn ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, Ayyūb ibn Abī Tamīmah al-Sakhtiyānī, and Sulaymān ibn Mihrān al-Kāhilī—who was one of the most scrupulous and ascetic of the Kufan shaykhs.

He died in 132 AH, though some say in 133 AH.

He was a cousin of Ḥuṣayn ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and ʿUtbah ibn Farqad, and Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Sulamī was his half-brother on his mother’s side.

Abū Dāwūd said, “Manṣūr pursued ḥadīth study before the Battle of al-Jamājim (1), whereas al-Aʿmash began after al-Jamājim.”