Ḥammād ibn Zayd said: “Ayyūb returned from Medina, and people asked him, ‘Whom did you leave behind there as the most learned in juristic matters?’ He replied, ‘Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Anṣārī.’

Abū Ṣāliḥ reported to us: al-Layth narrated from ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, who said, “When Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd related traditions to us, it was as though pearls were showering down upon us; yet whenever Rabīʿah arrived he would break off his discourse out of reverence and profound respect for Rabīʿah.” (1)

ʿAlī ibn Mushir said, “I heard Sufyān say, ‘I met three masters of memorization: Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid, ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Abī Sulaymān, and Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Anṣārī.’ I asked, ‘And al-Aʿmash?’ He refused to rank him alongside them.”

Muḥammad ibn al-Minhāl said: I heard Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ say, “When Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Anṣārī arrived he lodged with ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd. Yaḥyā would not dictate; we would enter to hear him—together with Ibn ʿUlayyah and others—and commit what he said to memory. After we left, each man would write down what he had memorized. Because of that I abandoned his reports, saying, ‘I will not take my religion from you.’”

Muḥammad ibn Saʿd, on the authority of al-Wāqidī, reported that Sulaymān ibn Bilāl told him, “Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd traveled to Ifrīqiyah to retrieve an inheritance that was due to him. Rabīʿah ibn Abī ʿAbd al-Raḥmān secured the government courier service for him, so he rode by it to Ifrīqiyah and returned with the inheritance, which amounted to 500 dinars.

“When people came to greet him, Rabīʿah came as well. Yaḥyā closed the door so only the two of them remained, called for his belt, placed it before Rabīʿah, and said, ‘Abū ʿUthmān, by Allah, I have not kept back a single dinar from it except what we spent on the journey.’

“He then counted out 250 dinars, handed them to Rabīʿah, and retained the same amount for himself—he had divided it equally.”

Yaḥyā al-Qaṭṭān said: I heard Sufyān ibn Saʿīd say, “In the eyes of the people of Medina, Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Anṣārī held greater standing than al-Zuhrī.”

Al-Tirmidhī narrates: Qutaybah narrated to us, Jarīr narrated to us: “I asked Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd and said:”