Salamah laugh, I would indeed be telling the truth; he was constantly occupied—either transmitting hadith, or reading, or uttering tasbīḥ, or praying. He had portioned his whole day among those activities.

Aḥmad ibn Zuhayr said, “I heard Ibn Maʿīn say, ‘The most accurate of all people in transmitting from Thābit is Ḥammād ibn Salamah.’

Muḥammad ibn Muṭahhir related, “I asked Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal about him, and he replied, ‘Ḥammād ibn Salamah is, in our estimation, one of the trustworthy narrators; every day our insight into his reliability only grows.’

Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-ʿIjlī said, ‘My father told me: Ḥammād ibn Salamah would not begin teaching hadith until he had first read one hundred verses, looking directly at the mushaf.’

Yūnus ibn Muḥammad al-Muʾaddib said, ‘Ḥammād ibn Salamah died while praying in the mosque.’ (1)

Sawwār ibn ʿAbd Allāh reported from his father: ‘I used to visit Ḥammād ibn Salamah at his stall in the marketplace. Whenever he made a profit of one or two ḥabbahs on a garment, he would tie up his pouch (2) and sell nothing more (3); I assumed that this small amount was enough to provide for him.’ (4)

Al-Tabūdhakī said, ‘I heard Ḥammād ibn Salamah say: “If a governor summons you to recite to him, Say: ‘He is Allah, One’ (Sūrat al-Ikhlāṣ 1), do not go to him.”’ (5)

Isḥāq ibn al-Ṭabbāʿ said, ‘I heard Ḥammād ibn Salamah say: “Whoever pursues hadith for other than Allah, Exalted is He, will be deceived.”’