Aḥmad ibn Abī Khaythama said: “Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn used to remark, ‘The book of Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah as transmitted from al-Zuhrī is among the most authentic of these compilations.’

Aḥmad, Yaḥyā, Abū Ḥātim and al-Nasāʾī all declared: ‘Mūsā is reliable.’

Al-Mufaḍḍal ibn Ghassān related from Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn: “Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah is reliable, though people say that his narrations from Nāfiʿ contain some flaw; I myself heard Ibn Maʿīn rate Mūsā as mildly weak.”

I (the author) say: ʿAbbās al-Dūrī and others have also transmitted Yaḥyā’s endorsement of him, so this qualification is to be understood merely in the sense that—in reporting from Nāfiʿ—he is not as strong as Mālik or ʿUbayd Allah.

Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Junayd likewise cited Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn as saying: “In narrating from Nāfiʿ, Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah is not on a par with ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿUmar or Mālik.”

I add: Both of the two Imams—al-Bukhārī and Muslim—relied on Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah’s transmissions from Nāfiʿ, and all praise belongs to Allah.

We say: he is reliable, albeit there are transmitters even more reliable than he; the criticism belongs to this category.

Al-Wāqidī said: “Ibrāhīm, Mūsā and Muḥammad—the sons of ʿUqbah—held a teaching circle in the Prophet’s Mosque; all three were jurist-traditionists, and Mūsā issued legal opinions.”

Musʿab ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Zubayrī observed: “They enjoyed dignity and learning.”

Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn stated: “Ibn al-Mubārak heard from Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah but not from his two brothers. The eldest is Muḥammad, then Ibrāhīm, then Mūsā, and Mūsā narrated the most ḥadīth.”

Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Qaṭṭān, as conveyed by Abū Ḥafṣ al-Fallās, said: “Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah died one year before I entered Medina, in 141 AH.”

Khalīfa, al-Tirmidhī and others date his death to that very year, while Nūḥ ibn Ḥabīb alone deviated, asserting that he died in 142 AH.

We have obtained his narrations with elevated chains in several places, the loftiest being in the booklet of Ibn ʿArafa.

Aḥmad ibn Farah al-Ishbīlī the ḥāfiẓ informed us; ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Muḥammad and Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Dāʾim also informed us; they said, “ʿAbd al-Munʿim ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb informed us (ḥ) and Aḥmad…”