I read this before Aḥmad ibn Hibat Allah in the year 93. He transmitted it from ʿAbd al-Muʿizz ibn Muḥammad, who in turn informed us; Zāhir ibn Ṭāhir informed us; Abū Yaʿlā al-Ṣābūnī informed us; Abū Saʿīd ʿAbd Allah ibn Muḥammad al-Rāzī related to us; Muḥammad ibn Ayyūb narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn Kathīr informed us; Sufyān related it, from Aslam al-Minqarī, from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abzā, from his father, who said:

Ubayy ibn Kaʿb said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to me, “I have been commanded to recite a surah to you.” I asked, “O Messenger of Allah, was I mentioned to you by name?” He replied, “Yes.”

I then asked Ubayy, “Were you pleased by that?” He answered, “And why should I not rejoice when He says, ‘Say, “In the bounty of Allah and in His mercy—in that let them rejoice” (1)’ [Yūnus 58] (2).”

Ibn Mahdī said: Sufyān used to hold a regular lesson devoted to hadith—that is, he would teach his own narrations.

ʿAlī ibn Thābit al-Jazarī said: I heard Sufyān say, “I pursued knowledge at first with no (sincere) intention; then Allah granted me the proper intention.”

Yahyā ibn Yamān narrates from Sufyān that he said, “I pass by a weaver and block my ears, fearing that I might memorize whatever he is saying.”

Al-Qaṭṭān and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān said, “We have never seen anyone with a better memory than Sufyān.”

Abū ʿUbaydah ibn Abī al-Safar said: ʿAbd Allah ibn Muḥammad al-Maflūj narrated to us,