160 – Salam ibn Abi Mutiʿ al-Khuzaʿi, their freedman (his reports are found in al-Bukhari, Muslim, al-Tirmidhi, and al-Nasa’i).

He was an imam, trustworthy, and an exemplar. His kunya was Abu Saʿid al-Khuzaʿi, and he was from Basra.

He narrated from Qatadah, Shuʿayb ibn al-Habhab, Ayyub, ʿUthman ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Mawhab, Hisham ibn ʿUrwah, Abu ʿAmr al-Jawni, Asmaʾ ibn ʿUbayd, and others.

He even transmitted from narrators of a lower tier, such as Maʿmar ibn Rashid and those similar to him.

Among those who received narrations from him were Ibn al-Mubarak, Ibn Mahdi, Saʿid ibn ʿAmir al-Dubaʿi, Yunus ibn Muhammad, Abu al-Walid, Sulayman ibn Harb, ʿAli ibn al-Jaʿd, Musa ibn Ismaʿil, Ibrahim ibn al-Hajjaj al-Sami, Musaddad, Hudbah, ʿAbd al-Aʿla ibn Hammad, and many others besides.

Ahmad ibn Hanbal said, “Reliable, a man of the Sunnah.”

Abu Hatim said, “His hadith is acceptable.”

Abu Salamah al-Tabudhaki said, “It used to be said that he was the most intelligent person in Basra.”

Abu Dawud al-Sijzi said, “He is the one who declared, ‘To meet Allah with the record of al-Hajjaj is dearer to me than to meet Allah with the record of ʿAmr ibn ʿUbayd.’” (1)

Al-Nasa’i said, “There is nothing objectionable about him,” and on another occasion, “Trustworthy.”

Ibn ʿAdi stated, “His transmission from Qatadah in particular is not steady, yet he has some fine, singular reports and unique narrations. He is regarded as one of the orators of Basra and one of its intelligent men.”