I said, “If this report is authentic, then it took place before the caliphate of Hārūn.”

Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-ʿAbdī said: “I heard Ibn Bukayr relating from Yaʿqūb ibn Dāwūd, the vizier of al-Mahdī, that he said: ‘When al-Layth arrived in Iraq, the Commander of the Faithful said, “Stay close to this shaykh, for I am now convinced that no one remains who is more knowledgeable than he about what he carries.”’ (1)

Al-Fasawī records: Ibn Bukayr narrated to us that al-Layth said, ‘Abū Jaʿfar asked me, “Will you govern Egypt for me?” I replied, “No, O Commander of the Faithful; I am too weak for that task, for I am a man from the mawālī (non-Arab clients).” He answered, “You are not weak when you are with me; rather, your determination to work for me has grown weak.”’ (2)

Ibn Bukayr also reported that ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Muḥammad said, ‘I saw al-Layth with Rabīʿah, debating them on legal issues, and he had thoroughly unsettled the members of the study circle.’ (3)

Abū Isḥāq ibn Yūnus al-Harawī said: al-Dārimī narrated to us—Yaḥyā ibn Bukayr narrated to us—Shuraḥbīl ibn Jamīl narrated to us, saying, ‘I encountered the scholars in the days of the caliph Hishām, and al-Layth ibn Saʿd was still very young. In Egypt were ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar, Jaʿfar ibn Rabīʿah, al-Ḥārith ibn Yazīd, Yazīd ibn Abī Ḥabīb, and Ibn Hubayrah, and they all recognized al-Layth’s merit, piety, and exemplary commitment to Islam despite his youth.’

Then Ibn Bukayr remarked, ‘I have never seen anyone like al-Layth.’

ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Yaḥyā ibn Bukayr transmitted from his father: ‘I have never seen anyone more complete than al-Layth.’