Shuʿayb ibn Isḥāq, reporting from Saʿīd, said, “I went to Ibn Sīrīn in the company of Qatādah, and he recited to us a single line of verse.”

Abū Aḥmad ibn ʿAdī states in al-Kāmil: “Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūbah is among the trustworthy narrators. He produced many compilations, but anyone who heard from him after his memory became confused is not to be relied upon.

“Those who narrated the greatest amount from him are ʿAbd al-Aʿlā al-Shāmī, followed by Shuʿayb ibn Isḥāq, ʿAbdah ibn Sulaymān, and ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn ʿAṭāʾ.

“The most accurate in transmitting from him are Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ, Khālid ibn al-Ḥārith, and Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Qaṭṭān.

“All of his compilations were conveyed by ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Khaffāf.”

ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn ʿAbd al-Wārith and others said, “Ibn Abī ʿArūbah died in 156 AH.”

I say: he actually passed away sometime in the eighties.

Those who also died that same year were: the Qur’an reciter of Kūfah, Ḥamzah al-Zayyāt; the judge of Baṣrah, Sawwār ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-ʿAnbarī; the Jerusalem resident ʿAbd Allāh ibn Shawdhub al-Balkhī; the ḥadīth scholar of Ḥimṣ, Abū Bakr ibn Abī Maryam al-Ghassānī; ʿUmar ibn Dharr in Kūfah; and the Maghribi traditionist ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ziyād ibn Anʿum al-Ifrīqī.

Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal said, “People claim that Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūbah remarked, ‘The only thing I ever wrote down was Qatādah’s tafsīr, and that was because Abū Maʿshar wrote to me requesting that I copy it.’”

Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī said, “Saʿīd had the best memory of all Qatādah’s companions.”

ʿAbd al-Muʾmin ibn Khalaf al-Ḥāfiẓ narrated to us, informing us on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Mukhtār; likewise, Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm ibn al-Aghlāqī narrated to us, informing us on the authority of Naṣr ibn Jarw; and Abū al-Maʿālī Aḥmad ibn al-Muʾayyad narrated to us, reporting from ʿAbd al-Qawī ibn Ḥubāb. ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad al-Ḥusaynī also narrated to us, reporting from Murtaḍā ibn Ḥātim; and Abū al-Qāsim ibn ʿUmar al-Hawwārī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Makhlūq, and a group of others narrated to us, all saying:

“Jaʿfar ibn Munīr narrated to us”—five of them in total—“informing us …” (chain continues).