—rather, he became known by it.

He was born in 58 AH, as stated by Ibn Maʿīn.

He narrated from Abū al-ʿĀliyah, Abū Rajāʾ al-ʿAṭāridī, Zurārah ibn Awfā, Ibn Sīrīn, Khilās, and others.

He is counted among the junior Successors, and he has no reports from anyone who was a Companion.

Those who transmitted from him include Shuʿbah, Ibn al-Mubārak, Ghundar, Rawaḥ, al-Naḍr ibn Shumayl, Hawdhah ibn Khalīfah, and a number of others, the last of whom was ʿUthmān ibn al-Haytham.

He was one of Basra’s scholars despite his innovation.

Muḥammad ibn Sallām said, “He was Persian.”

Hawdhah said, “He belonged to Banū Saʿd.”

I say: He was nicknamed “ʿAwf the Truthful.”

More than one authority declared him reliable, though he inclined toward Shiʿism.

Al-Anṣārī said: ʿAwf told me, “I heard from al-Ḥasan before the revolt of Ibn al-Ashʿath.”(1)

Al-Qaṭṭān said: I heard ʿAwf—while he was relating the report of “the Truthful, the Confirmed”—say, “ʿAbd Allāh has lied.” Bundār and others heard the two of them from him.

Ibn al-Mubārak remarked: “ʿAwf was not satisfied with a single innovation; he had two—he was both a Qadarī and a Shiʿī.”

Al-Anṣārī also said: “I saw Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind striking ʿAwf and saying, ‘Woe to you, O Qadarī!’”

Bundār said: “He was a Qadarī Rāfiḍī.”

I say: Nevertheless, he is trustworthy and prolific.

Al-Nasāʾī: “Reliable, firmly grounded.”

He died in 146 AH; some say in 147.

Some of his elevated chains appear in al-Qaṭīʿiyyāt.(2)