Abu Hafs al-Fallās said, “Whoever wrote down narrations from Ibn Luhayʿah before his library went up in flames possesses sounder material—such as Ibn al-Mubārak and al-Muqriʾ (1)—yet he himself is weak in ḥadith.”

Ishāq ibn ʿĪsā remarked, “His original notebooks were not burnt; only some of the copies he used to read from were lost—that is, portions he had transcribed from them.”

Ibn ʿAdī (2) related: “Mūsā ibn al-ʿAbbās told us, Abu Ḥātim told us—I heard Saʿīd ibn Abī Maryam say, ‘I saw people present to Ibn Luhayʿah ḥadiths originating with the Iraqis—Mansūr, Abu Isḥāq, al-Aʿmash, and others—and he granted them license for those reports. I said to him, “Abu ʿAbd al-Raḥmān! These are not from your own narrations.” He replied, “They are reports that have merely passed across my ears.”’ Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted this from his father.”

Al-Faḍl ibn Ziyād reported from Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal: “Whoever received ḥadith from Ibn Luhayʿah in earlier times, his audition is sound.”

I say: This is because at that stage he had not yet grown lax, and his work was still under control; afterwards he ruined himself.

Al-Nasāʾī said, “He is not reliable.”

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Khirrāsh said, “His ḥadith is not to be written.”

Abu Zurʿah said, “He is not to be cited as evidence.” Someone asked him, “And what of the earliest auditors?” He replied, “His earliest and latest reports are the same, except that Ibn Wahb and Ibn al-Mubārak used to track down his original manuscripts and copy directly from them.”

ʿAbbās reported from Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn: “Ibn Luhayʿah is not to be relied upon.”