—saying, “I have never written down a ḥadith.”
I also heard him say, “Knowledge is not to be taken from a ṣaḥafī (one who relies only on written pages).”

Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī said, “Abū Mushir used to rate Saʿīd above al-Awzāʿī.”

Abū Zurʿah al-Naṣrī reported: “I asked Ibn Maʿīn, ‘Is Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq a decisive authority (ḥujjah)?’ He answered, ‘He was trustworthy, but the true authorities are ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, Mālik, al-Awzāʿī, and Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz.’”

Aḥmad said in the Musnad: “In all of Syria there is no one whose ḥadith are sounder than those of Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz.”

Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥākim remarked: “For the people of Syria, Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz is what Mālik is for the people of Madinah—in precedence, jurisprudence, and trustworthiness.”

Abū Zurʿah related: Abū al-Naḍr Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm told me, “During the prayer I could hear the sound of Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz’s tears striking the mat.”

Aḥmad ibn Abī al-Ḥawārī narrates: Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Asadī said, “I asked Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, ‘What is this weeping that overtakes you in the prayer?’ He replied, ‘My nephew, why do you ask about that?’ I said, ‘Perhaps Allah will allow me to benefit from it.’ He answered, ‘I never stand for prayer without Jahannam being set before my eyes.’”

Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Marwān ibn Muḥammad al-Ṭāṭarī (2) relates: Muḥammad ibn al-Mubārak al-Ṣūrī said, “Whenever Saʿīd missed the congregational prayer, he would weep.”

Al-Walīd ibn Mazīd said: “Whenever al-Awzāʿī was asked about a matter, and Saʿīd ibn—”