“the keeper of the coffins,” that is, Ashʿath the storyteller.
He was a client of Thaqīf, nicknamed “al-Athram,” and served as the judge of Ahwāz.
He transmitted from al-Shaʿbī, ʿIkrima, al-Ḥasan, and Ibn Sīrīn.
Those who narrated from him include Shuʿba, ʿAbthar ibn al-Qāsim, Hushaym, Ḥafṣ ibn Ghiyāth, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Numayr, Yazīd ibn Hārūn, and a number of others.
Muslim cited his reports only for corroboration.
One of his own teachers—Abū Isḥāq al-Sabīʿī—also narrated from him.
He was counted among the scholars, though a certain softness is noted in his transmission.
Al-Thawrī said, “He is more reliable than Mujālid.”
Yaḥyā al-Qaṭṭān said, “In my estimation he is below Ibn Isḥāq.”
Abū Zurʿa said, “Lenient.”
Ibn Khirāsh and others said, “He is the weakest of those called Ashʿath.”
Al-Nasāʾī said, “Weak.”
Ibn ʿAdī stated, “I have not found any condemned hadith in his corpus; he only makes mistakes in the chains.”
ʿAbbās related from Yaḥyā: “Weak.”
Ibn al-Dawraqī likewise narrated from Yaḥyā: “Ashʿath ibn Sawār is trustworthy.”
Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal said, “He is better than Muḥammad ibn Sālim.”
Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā said, “I never heard Yaḥyā or ʿAbd al-Raḥmān transmit anything at all from Ashʿath ibn Sawār.”
Ibn Ḥibbān remarked, “Grave in error, given to much delusion.”
Al-Dāraquṭnī said, “Weak, but he may be used for corroboration.”
Ashʿath ibn Sawār, through Abū al-Zubayr, from Jābir, reported: “We would pronounce the talbiyah on behalf of the women and throw the pebbles on behalf of the children.” (1)