Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān informed us; Abū al-Qāsim Ibn Ṣaṣrā informed us; Abū al-Makārim ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Muḥammad al-Azdī informed us; Abū al-Faḍl ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Muʾammal al-Kafartaabī—this was read aloud to him while I was present—informed us; ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Naṣr al-Tamīmī informed us; Abū ʿAlī Muḥammad ibn al-Qāsim ibn Maʿrūf narrated to us; Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī the judge narrated to us; ʿAlī ibn al-Jaʿd narrated to us; Ibn Abī Dhīb, from Ibn Shihāb, from ʿUrwah, from ʿĀʾishah, who said: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to fast on the day of ʿĀshūrāʾ and commanded that it be fasted.” (1)

Al-Dāraquṭnī said: “Ibn Abī Dhīb composed a Muwaṭṭaʾ, but it never circulated.”

Ibn Abī Maryam reported, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, who said: “Ibn Abī Dhīb is reliable, and everyone from whom Ibn Abī Dhīb narrated is reliable—except Abū Jābir al-Bayāḍī. Likewise, everyone from whom Mālik narrated is reliable, except ʿAbd al-Karīm Abū Umayyah.”

Yaʿqūb ibn Shaybah said: “His transmission from al-Zuhrī was by ʿarḍ (presentation reading) (2), and ʿarḍ is regarded as sound by all the scholars we have met.”

I heard Aḥmad and Yaḥyā debating the relative standing of Ibn Abī Dhīb and ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar al-Makhramī; Aḥmad placed al-Makhramī first. Yaḥyā responded, “Al-Makhramī—a mere shaykh! What material does he possess?” He then lavished praise on Ibn Abī Dhīb and advanced him far ahead of al-Makhramī by a wide margin.

I mentioned this to ʿAlī, and he agreed with Yaḥyā. I also asked ʿAlī about Ibn Abī Dhīb’s hearing from al-Zuhrī, and he said, “It is close in connection, and it was by ʿarḍ (presentation reading).”