ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī said: “Among al-Shaʿbī’s pupils the foremost is Abū Ḥaṣīn, then Ismāʿīl, then Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind. After them come al-Shaybānī, Muṭarrif, and Bayān in one tier, with al-Shaybānī standing highest among them. Mughīrah was also one of al-Shaʿbī’s companions; he reported from him and did so with excellence. Zakariyyā ibn Abī Zāʾidah and ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī al-Safar form another tier, while Mālik ibn Mighwal, Abū Ḥayyān al-Taymī, and Ibn Abjar belong to a further tier. Ashʿath ibn Sawwār ranks above Jābir and Ibn Sālim; Mujālid is superior to Ashʿath, and both are above Ajlaḥ al-Kindī.

Abū Muʿāwiyah related from al-Aʿmash, who said: “Abū Ḥaṣīn listens to me, then goes off and transmits what he has heard.”

Yaḥyā ibn Ādam reported from Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh: “I heard Abū Ḥaṣīn say, ‘We had never heard the hadith, “For whomever I am his mawla (1),” until this man came from Khurāsān and trumpeted it—meaning Abū Isḥāq—and some people followed him in that.’”

I say: The hadith is unquestionably authentic, but Abū Ḥaṣīn inclined toward ʿUthmān, a stance seldom found in a Kufan.

Muḥammad ibn ʿImrān al-Akhnasī narrated from Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh: “I entered upon Abū Ḥaṣīn while he was in hiding from the Umayyads. He said, ‘These people—meaning the Banū Umayyah—want to coerce me concerning my religion. By Allah, I shall never surrender it to them.’”

Al-Shaybānī said: “Al-Shaʿbī entered the mosque with me and said, ‘Look—do you see Abū Ḥaṣīn so that we may sit with him?’”

Ibn ʿUyaynah said: “A man told me that when al-Shaʿbī was on his death-bed he was asked, ‘Whom do you command us to follow?’ He replied, ‘I am no scholar, nor do I leave behind any scholar; yet Abū Ḥaṣīn is a righteous man.’”