“Whom shall we consult after you, Abū Muḥammad?”
He replied, “This young man—if he lives,” meaning Ibn Jurayj.
Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh narrated from al-Muthannā ibn al-Ṣabbāḥ and others, from ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ, who said:
“The leader of the young scholars of the Ḥijāz is Ibn Jurayj; the leader of the young scholars of Syria is Sulaymān ibn Mūsā; and the leader of the young scholars of Iraq is Ḥajjāj ibn Arṭāʾah.”
ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī said, “When I examined the matter I found that the chain of transmission revolves around six men …” and he named them, then added, “Their knowledge was handed down to the compilers. Of those who produced written works among the Meccans was Ibn Jurayj—whose kunya was Abū al-Walīd; he met Ibn Shihāb and ʿAmr ibn Dīnār.”
He meant that Ibn Jurayj was one of the six just mentioned.
Al-Walīd ibn Muslim said, “I asked al-Awzāʿī, Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, and Ibn Jurayj, ‘For whose sake did you seek knowledge?’
All of them said, ‘For myself,’ except that Ibn Jurayj said, ‘I sought it for the people.’”
I say: How fine is honesty! Today, if you ask a dull-witted jurist, “For whose sake did you seek knowledge?” he will hasten to reply, “For Allah,” yet he lies—he sought it for worldly gain, and has mastered but a scant portion of it.
ʿAlī said: “I asked Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, ‘Who is the most reliable among Nāfiʿ’s disciples?’
He answered, ‘Ayyūb, ʿUbaydullāh, Mālik; and Ibn Jurayj is more reliable than Mālik in reporting from Nāfiʿ.’”
Ṣāliḥ ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal narrated from his father, who said: “ʿAmr ibn Dīnār and Ibn Jurayj are the most accurate transmitters from ʿAṭāʾ.”
Abū Bakr ibn Khallād transmitted from Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, who said: “We used to call the books of Ibn Jurayj ‘the books of trustworthiness.’ If Ibn Jurayj did not read to you from his own copy, you gained no benefit from it.”
Al-Athram transmitted from Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, who said: “When Ibn Jurayj says, ‘So-and-so said,’ or ‘It was said,’ or ‘I was informed,’ he may bring forth oddities; but when he says, ‘So-and-so told me,’ or ‘I heard,’ that is sufficient for you.”
Al-Maymūnī reported from Aḥmad: “If Ibn Jurayj says, ‘He said …,’ then be on your guard against him; but if he says—”