—he would memorize them as if they were a single surah.
Abu Hatim said, “His reports from Shahr are sound.”
Abu Dawud and others stated, “Reliable.”
Yahya ibn Maʿin likewise declared him reliable.
Al-Nasaʾi said, “There is nothing objectionable about him.”
Muhammad ibn al-Muthanna remarked, “I never heard Yahya nor Ibn Mahdi relate anything from him at all.”
ʿAli ibn Hafs al-Madaʾini said: “I heard Shuʿbah say, ‘ʿAbd al-Hamid ibn Bahrām is an excellent shaykh, but do not write from him, for he narrates from Shahr.’”
I say: His audition from Shahr occurred in 98 AH, and he died before 170 AH.
- Al-Rabiʿ ibn Yunus, Abu al-Fadl al-Umawi
The vizier and grand chamberlain, Abu al-Fadl al-Umawi, a client of ʿUthman, may Allah be pleased with him.
He first served as chamberlain for al-Mansur, then became his vizier after Abu Ayyub al-Muryani (1). He was counted among the noblest, most intelligent, and most virtuous of men.
Al-Mansur once said to him, “How pleasant this world would be were it not for death.”
He replied, “Commander of the Believers! It is pleasant only because of death.”
Al-Mansur asked, “How so?”
He answered, “If not for death, you would never have sat in this seat.”
It is said that al-Hadi poisoned him.
Another report says he fell ill for eight days and then died.