Ibn Bukayr said, “He was born in 96 AH, and the only transmitter who maintained that his kunyah was Abū al-Naḍr is Nūḥ ibn Ḥabīb.
Ibn Saʿd (1) stated, “Ibn Luhayʿah was a Hadramī of pure stock. He was weak in ḥadith, although he possessed a great many reports, and those who heard from him at the beginning of his career are in a better position.
The people of Egypt, however, claim that he never became confused; rather, material that was not his own ḥadith would be read in his presence and he would remain silent.
When he was reproached for this he replied, ‘And what fault is mine? They simply bring a book, read from it, and then leave. Had they asked me I would have told them that it is not from my ḥadith…,’ until he said:
‘He died in Egypt halfway through Rabīʿ al-Awwal in the year 174 AH.’
Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj said, “Ibn Luhayʿah was abandoned by Wakīʿ, Yaḥyā, and Ibn Mahdī.”
Ibn Yūnus said, “He was born in 97 AH.”
I have seen his name entered in the Diwān of Hadramawt in Egypt, among those summoned there in the year 126 AH, receiving an allowance of forty.
Ibn Wahb said, “As for the report, ‘If the Qur’an were placed in a leather pouch, the Fire would never touch it,’ Ibn Luhayʿah never traced it back for us at all during the early part of his career. (2)”
Qutrubul: a village belonging to the Baghdad district. Yaqut, in his Geographical Dictionary, vocalises the name with a damma on the qaf, a sukun on the ta, a fatha on the ra, and a doubled ba with a damma.
(1) vol. 7, p. 516.
(2) Al-Duafaaʾ by al-Uqayli, 1/220. The hadith is also reported by Ahmad, 4/51, and by al-Darimi through the chain Abū Saʿid – Ibn Luhayʿa – Mushrah, who said: I heard ʿUqba b. ʿAmir state that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ declared: “If the Quran were placed inside a hide and then thrown into the fire, it would not burn.” Al-Haythami reproduces it in Majmaʿ al-Zawaʾid, 7/158, attributing it to Ahmad, Abū Yaʿla and al-Tabarani, and he judges it weak because of Ibn Luhayʿa. Al-Darimi also records it, 2/430, through the isnad ʿAbd Allah b. Yazid – Ibn Luhayʿa – Mushrah – ʿUqba b. ʿAmir.
ʿAbd Allah b. Yazid heard Ibn Luhayʿa before the latter’s memory deterioration, so his narrations from him are considered reliable. On the same topic there is a report from ʿIsma b. Malik recorded by al-Tabarani, but its chain contains al-Fadl b. al-Mukhtar, who is weak; Ibn ʿAdi states that his hadiths are objectionable and generally lack corroboration. Another report comes from Sahl b. Saʿd, also in al-Tabarani, whose chain includes ʿAbd al-Wahhab b. al-Dahhak…