Yahya ibn Yaʿla al-Muhāribī said, “Zāʾidah ordered us to abandon the hadith of Ḥajjāj ibn Arṭāʾah.”

Ahmad ibn Ḥanbal related, “I heard Yahya ibn Saʿīd say that Ḥajjāj ibn Arṭāʾah never saw al-Zuhrī, and he held a very bad opinion of him. I never saw him think worse of anyone than he did of Ḥajjāj—and Ibn Isḥāq, Layth, and Hammām; we could not argue with him about them.”

Abu al-Ḥasan al-Dāraqutnī and others said, “Ḥajjāj is not to be used as evidence.”

The author adds, “Al-Tirmidhī may on occasion show lenience and declare a narration of Ibn Arṭāʾah sound, but that is not acceptable. (1)”

Maʿmar ibn Sulaymān said, “You ask us about the hadith of Ḥajjāj ibn Arṭāʾah, while ʿAbd Allah ibn Bishr al-Raqqī is, in our view, superior to him!”

ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd reported from Ibn Maʿīn: “Ḥajjāj is reliable when he narrates from Qatādah.”

Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam said, “I heard al-Shāfiʿī state: Ḥajjāj ibn Arṭāʾah said, ‘A man’s muruʾah (dignified character) is not complete until he abandons prayer in congregation.’ (2)”

The author comments: “May Allah curse such ‘muruʾah’! It is nothing but folly and arrogance, intended only so that the common people will not jostle him. In the same way you find certain dignitaries and scholars praying in congregation but outside the row, or a large carpet is spread out for them so that no Muslim draws near them—indeed, to Allah we belong!”

Al-Aṣmaʿī said, “The first judge in Basra to accept a bribe was Ḥajjāj ibn Arṭāʾah.”