ibn Yazīd, Ayūb ibn ʿUtbah, Muḥammad ibn Jābir, Ayūb ibn al-Najjār, Jarīr ibn Ḥāzim, Sulaymān ibn Arqam, Abū ʿĀmir al-Khazzāz, ʿImrān al-Qaṭṭān, ʿAlī ibn al-Mubārak, Abū Ismāʿīl al-Qannād (1), and many others.

Ḥarb ibn Shaddād reported—on the authority of Yaḥyā—that he said, “Everything I have from Abū Salām al-Aswad comes only from a written source.”

Wuhaib ibn Khālid narrated, from Ayūb, who said, “No one remaining on the face of the earth is the equal of Yaḥyā ibn Abī Kathīr.”

Shuʿbah stated, “The reports of Yaḥyā ibn Abī Kathīr are superior to those of al-Zuhrī.”

Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal said, “If al-Zuhrī contradicts him, the view to be accepted is that of Yaḥyā.”

Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī observed, “He is an imam who transmits only from reliable narrators; he was tried and beaten because of his words against the tyrannical governors.”

A number of authorities related that he died in 129 AH, while some said he survived until 132 AH; the first opinion is the sounder.

Aḥmad also remarked, “He is among the most trustworthy narrators; he may be ranked only alongside al-Zuhrī and Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd.”

Ibn Ḥibbān wrote, “He was one of the devoted worshippers; whenever he attended a funeral he would not eat supper that night, nor would he speak to anyone.”

al-ʿUqaylī noted, “He was mentioned for practicing tadlīs (concealing an intermediary in transmission).”

Abū Ḥātim said, “He saw Anas [ibn Mālik] praying in the Sacred Mosque.”

Ḥusayn al-Muʿallim reported that Yaḥyā told him, “Everything I have from Abū Salām is only from a written source.”

al-Muʿāfā ibn ʿImrān narrated—from al-Awzāʿī—from Yaḥyā ibn Abī Kathīr, who said:
“He said…”