yet, among the people of hadith, he was of no consequence.
Naṣr ibn ʿAlī al-Jahḍamī said, “I was in the presence of al-Khuraibī together with Abū Aḥmad al-Zubayrī, and Abū Aḥmad began to extol Ḥasan ibn Ṣāliḥ. Al-Khuraibī retorted, ‘May you be granted long life! We know Ḥasan better than you. Ḥasan was full of self-admiration, and the self-admiring person is a fool.’
Abū ʿUbaydah ibn Abī al-Safar reported: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn Sālim narrated to us, ‘I heard Rashīd the baker — he was a righteous servant, and Abū ʿUbaydah had met him — say:
“I travelled with my master to Mecca and we settled there. One day a man came to Sufyān and said, ‘Abū ʿAbd Allāh, today Ḥasan and ʿAlī, the two sons of Ṣāliḥ, have arrived.’ Sufyān asked, ‘Where are they?’ The man answered, ‘Making ṭawāf.’ He said, ‘When they pass, point them out to me.’
“One of them passed and I said, ‘That is ʿAlī,’ then the other passed and I said, ‘That is Ḥasan.’ Sufyān remarked, ‘The first is a man of the Hereafter; the other is a man of the sword — nothing ever fills his belly.’
“Someone who was with us went off and informed ʿAlī. My master then went to greet ʿAlī, and Sufyān also came to greet him. ʿAlī said, ‘Abū ʿAbd Allāh! What made you speak about my brother yesterday as you did? Are you not afraid that your remark might reach Ibn Abī Jaʿfar, who would then summon him and kill him?’ I looked at Sufyān while he was saying, ‘I seek Allah’s forgiveness,’ and tears were streaming from his eyes.”’
Al-Humaydī narrated from Sufyān: “Ṣāliḥ ibn Ḥayy narrated to us. He was better than his two sons, and ʿAlī was the better of the two.”
Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Warrāq said, “I asked Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal about Ḥasan ibn Ṣāliḥ: ‘How are his hadiths?’ He answered, ‘Reliable, and his brother is reliable, but he died young.’”
ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan al-Hisnjanī reported from Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal: “Ḥasan ibn Ṣāliḥ’s narrations are sound; he is a jurist who safeguards himself in matters of hadith and piety.”
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad related from his father: “He is more accurate than Sharīk.”