Humayd narrated—on the authority of Jarir ibn ʿAbd al-Hamid—“I saw Ibn Abi Layla applying black dye.”

Al-ʿIjli said, “He was a jurist, committed to the sunnah, truthful, and his hadith are admissible. He was also a Qur’an reciter and fully versed in it.”

Hamzah al-Zayyat studied under him and used to say, “We learned the excellence of proper recitation from Ibn Abi Layla.”

He was counted among the noblest of people, the most meticulous in dotting the mushaf, and his handwriting was the finest; he was handsome and dignified.

The first to appoint him as judge over Kufah was the governor Yusuf ibn ʿUmar al-Thaqafi, the Umayyad official, who granted him a monthly stipend of one hundred dirhams.

Abu Zurʿah said, “He is upright, though not among the strongest narrators.”

Abu Hatim said, “His standing is that of truthfulness, but he had a poor memory; once he busied himself with the judiciary, his retention became worse. He is not suspected of fabrication, yet he is criticized for the sheer number of his mistakes. His hadith may be written down, but they are not to be relied upon. He and Hajjaj ibn Artaʿah are very close in this regard!”

Al-Nasa’i said, “He is not strong.”

Al-Daraqutni said, “His memorization is poor and he makes many errors.”

Abu Ahmad al-Hakim said, “Most of his hadith are inverted.”

Ibn Khirash reported: “Ishaq ibn Ibrahim Shadhan narrated to us from Saʿd ibn al-Salt, who said: ‘Ibn Abi Layla would not accept the opinion of anyone who did not drink nabidh (1).’”

I say: This is excessive.