in a certain house. There I saw an elderly scholar surrounded by people presenting their material to him, so I, too, presented mine along with them.
Abu Ahmad al-Hakim said: “Those who narrated from Maʿmar include Shuʿbah and al-Thawri.”
Ahmad ibn Hanbal said: ‘Abd al-Razzaq narrated to us: Maʿmar said, “I came to al-Zuhri at al-Rusafa, and he began to dictate to me.”
Hisham ibn Yusuf said: “Maʿmar presented these hadiths to Hammam ibn Munabbih.”
Al-Nasaʾi, in his work al-Kuna, reported: ʿAli ibn Saʿid told us, ‘I heard Ahmad say, “Whenever I compare anyone with Maʿmar, I find Maʿmar more zealous in seeking hadith than he. He was the first to travel to Yemen for that purpose.”’
Hanbal said: I heard ʿAli say, “When I examined the principal reservoirs of hadith, I found them with six men of the past generation:
• From Medina: al-Zuhri;
• From Mecca: ʿAmr ibn Dinar;
• From Basra: Qatadah and Yahya ibn Abi Kathir;
• From Kufa: Abu Ishaq and al-Aʿmash.
“Then I looked again and found that the hadith of those six had passed on to eleven men: Saʿid ibn Abi ʿArubah, Hammad ibn Salamah, Shuʿbah, al-Thawri, Ibn Jurayj, Abu ʿAwanah, Malik, Ibn ʿUyaynah, Hushaym, Maʿmar ibn Rashid, and al-Awzaʿi.”
Abu Hafs al-Fallas said: “Maʿmar was among the most truthful of people.”
I heard Yazid ibn Zurayʿ say: “I heard Ayyub—before the plague—say, ‘Maʿmar narrated to me.’”
Ibn ʿUyaynah said: “Ibn Abi ʿArubah said to me, ‘We have transmitted from your Maʿmar, and by doing so we honoured him.’”
Al-Humaydi said: It was asked of Ibn ʿUyaynah, “Is this hadith one of those you preserved from Maʿmar?” He replied, “Yes. May Allah have mercy on Abu ʿUrwah.”
ʿAbd Allah ibn Jaʿfar al-Raqqi said: ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿAmr narrated to us, saying, “I was in Basra…”