and Quraysh ibn Anas, Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Ansari, ʿUthman ibn ʿUmar ibn Faris, al-Asmaʿi, Bakkar ibn Muhammad al-Sirini, Muslim ibn Ibrahim, and many others besides them.

He ranked among the foremost imams in both knowledge and practice.

Hisham ibn Hassan said, “My eyes have never beheld anyone like Ibn ʿAwn.”
He made this remark even though he had seen al-Hasan al-Basri.

Ibn al-Mubarak said, “I have never seen anyone better than Ibn ʿAwn.”

Shuʿbah said, “The doubt expressed by Ibn ʿAwn is dearer to me than the certainty of others.”

Muʿadh ibn Muʿadh reports from Ibn ʿAwn that he said, “I saw Ghaylan the Qadarite crucified at the gate of Damascus.”

Ibn Saʿd said, “Ibn ʿAwn was reliable, prolific in hadith, scrupulous, and inclined toward ʿUthman.”

He also said: “Bakkar ibn Muhammad informed us, ‘I heard Ibn ʿAwn say: I once saw Anas ibn Malik while someone was leading his mount for him.’”

Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Minqari related: “I heard ʿAli ibn al-Madini say: We were with Yahya al-Qattan when they began comparing al-Aʿmash and Ibn ʿAwn. They said, ‘Al-Aʿmash met more than one Companion of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him.’

“Yahya ibn Saʿid responded, ‘Ibn ʿAwn heard from the leading jurists of the world: in Basra he heard from al-Hasan and Muhammad, in Kufa from Ibrahim and al-Shaʿbi, in Mecca from Saʿid ibn Jubayr and Mujahid, and in greater Syria from Makḥul and Rajaʾ ibn Haywah.’”

Mahmud ibn Ghaylan narrated: al-Nadr ibn Shumayl told us, “There was a man who kept close company with Ibn ʿAwn. He was asked, ‘Have Ibn ʿAwn’s hadiths reached four thousand?’
He replied, ‘More than that.’
He was then asked, ‘Six thousand?’ and the man fell silent.

“Al-Nadr added, ‘I heard Shuʿbah say, “The doubt expressed by Ibn ʿAwn is dearer to me than the certainty of others.”’”
Al-Muqriʾ also transmitted this from Shuʿbah.

Ibn ʿUlayyah was asked, “Who are the preservers of hadith in Basra?”
He mentioned Ibn ʿAwn along with several others.

Muhammad ibn Salam al-Jumahi said, “I heard Wuhaib say, ‘The entire affair of Basra revolved around…’”