“Tell me about the leading scholars you met: what was their view concerning Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, and ʿAlī?”
He replied, “Glory be to Allah! I never saw anyone who doubted the precedence of Abū Bakr and ʿUmar over ʿAlī; the only disagreement was over ʿAlī and ʿUthmān.”

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī said: Wuhaib narrated to us: “I arrived in Madinah and did not meet a single person there without finding in him traits you approve of and traits you disapprove of—except Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd and Mālik.”

Al-Ḥākim relates: Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Dāwūd al-Zāhid narrated to us; Yaḥyā ibn Aḥmad al-Harawī narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn Ḥafṣ informed them; Yaḥyā ibn Ayyūb al-Maqābirī narrated to us; Abū ʿĪsā and others narrated to me:
A group had a dispute with al-Musayyab ibn Zuhayr and brought the matter to Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Anṣārī, who wrote summoning al-Musayyab to attend. They delivered Yaḥyā’s letter, but he rebuked them and refused. So they returned to Yaḥyā, who rose angrily and set out for al-Musayyab. He found him already mounted, with nearly two hundred men carrying wooden clubs walking before him. When they saw the judge, they parted for him. Yaḥyā approached al-Musayyab, seized the straps of his sword, threw it to the ground, then knelt on him and began to choke him.
The narrator said: No one loosened the sword’s straps from his hand except Abū Jaʿfar himself.

I say: This is how a judge ought to be; once a judge fears dismissal, he will never prosper. Yet the soundness of this report requires scrutiny.

Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿĪsā ibn Māserjis said: Jarīr narrated to us, saying, “I asked Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd—and I have never seen a shaykh more eminent than he….” He then reiterated his preference for the two shaykhs, as has already been mentioned.

Ḥammād ibn Zayd said: “Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd used to say in his gathering, ‘O Allah, grant safety, grant safety.’”

And Yaḥyā said: “ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿAdī ibn al-Khayyār used to say in his gathering, ‘O Allah, keep us safe, and keep the believers safe from us.’”

Ibn Bukayr said: Al-Layth narrated to us from Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, who said, “The people of knowledge are the people of …”