Ibn Bukayr said, “Al-Layth was sturdy in body, eloquent in Arabic, proficient in the Qur’an and grammar; he had memorised hadith and poetry and was excellent in scholarly discussion. He went on enumerating admirable qualities, counting them on his fingers until he had reached ten, and then declared, ‘I have never seen anyone like him.’ (1)

Al-Khaṭīb relates in his History (2), on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Būshanji, who heard Ibn Bukayr say:

‘I was informed by Saʿīd ibn Abī Ayyūb that, were Mālik and al-Layth to sit together, Mālik would be rendered speechless beside al-Layth, and al-Layth would sell Mālik to the highest bidder.’

I say: its chain of transmission is not sound, because the narrator from Saʿīd is unknown, or else Saʿīd had not truly recognised Mālik’s stature.

Al-Muʾammal ibn Muḥammad and al-Musallam ibn ʿAllān wrote to us, saying: Abū al-Yaman al-Kindī informed us; Abū Manṣūr al-Shaybānī informed us; Abū Bakr al-Ḥāfiẓ informed us; Ibn Rizq informed us; ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad al-Miṣrī informed us; Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿIyāḍ ibn Abī Ṭaybah al-Mufriḍ (3) narrated to us; Hārūn ibn Saʿīd said:

‘I heard Ibn Wahb say, “Every instance in Mālik’s books where he writes, ‘Someone I trust among the scholars informed me,’ he is referring to al-Layth ibn Saʿd.”’ (4)

And, by this same chain, to Abū Bakr: al-Ṣūrī narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿUmar