—a number of reports, and each of the two compilers has narrations unique to himself.

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Mubārak al-ʿAyyishī relates through Sufyān ibn Ḥabīb, who said:
“More than once I heard Hishām ibn Ḥassān say, ‘I heard ʿAṭāʾ.’ Later I would return and he would say, ‘al-Thawrī and Qays narrated to me from ʿAṭāʾ’—and it was exactly the same report. I said to him, ‘Keep to one of the two versions,’ whereupon he shouted at me.”

I (the author) add: The ʿAṭāʾ meant here is ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, though it could possibly be ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ. As for his wording “and Qays,” that is a mistake; what appears correct to me is “from Qays,” namely Qays ibn Saʿd al-Makkī.

Aḥmad said, “Hishām is sound, and he is dearer to me than Ashʿath.”

Al-Athram reported: “I heard Abū ʿAbdullāh (Aḥmad) asked about Hishām ibn Ḥassān. He replied, ‘In my view there is no harm in him, and you will scarcely object to anything he narrates but that you find someone else—either Ayyūb or ʿAwf—has also transmitted it.’”

ʿAbbās transmitted from Ibn Maʿīn: “There is no problem with him.”

ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd likewise reported from Ibn Maʿīn: “He is dearer to me than Jarīr ibn Ḥāzim.”

ʿUthmān further said: “I heard Abū al-Walīd al-Ṭayālisī say, ‘Yazīd ibn Ibrāhīm is, in our estimation, more firmly grounded than Hishām ibn Ḥassān.’”

Al-ʿIjlī stated: “Hishām was a Basran, trustworthy, and his ḥadith is good.”

It is said that he possessed 1,000 sound ḥadiths found with no one else. I have seen some scholars state that he has about 200 ḥadiths, and they apparently meant the musnad collection.

Abū Ḥātim said: “He was truthful, and he was careful about attributing the reports of Ibn Sīrīn to the Prophet.” He also said: “His ḥadith is to be written down.”

I observe: From thorough investigation I have learned that when Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī says of a narrator, “His ḥadith is to be written down,” he does not consider that narrator an authoritative proof.

ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī al-Ṣayrafī said: “Hishām was among those who weep much.”

I heard Abū ʿĀṣim say: “I saw Hishām ibn Ḥassān—when the Prophet, Paradise, and Hell were mentioned—weep until his tears ran down his cheeks.”

Al-Rāmadī reports from ʿAbd al-Razzaq, who said: “Hishām ibn Ḥassān used to say to a man, ‘If…’”