or Ibn ʿAjlān?”
He answered, “Ibn ʿAjlān’s own audition became confused with what he received through his father; al-Layth is more beloved to me than both of them in the narrations from al-Maqburi. (1)

ʿUthmān ad-Dārimī said: I heard Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn declare, “I prefer al-Layth to Yaḥyā ibn Ayyūb, even though Yaḥyā is trustworthy.”
I asked him, “How are his reports from Nāfiʿ?”
He replied, “Sound and dependable.”

Aḥmad ibn Saʿd ibn Abī Maryam reported that Ibn Maʿīn said, “In my assessment al-Layth ranks higher than Ibn Isḥāq.”
I then asked, “And who is superior, al-Layth or Mālik?”
He replied, “Mālik.”

Aḥmad ibn Ṣāliḥ—when al-Layth was mentioned to him—said, “He is an imām whose right Allah has made incumbent upon us; after ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith there has been no one like him in this land.”

Sahl ibn Aḥmad al-Wāsiṭī said: I heard al-Fallās say, “Layth ibn Saʿd is truthful; I heard Ibn Mahdī narrate from Ibn al-Mubārak, from him.”

Ibn Saʿd remarked, “Al-Layth became independent in issuing legal verdicts. He was trustworthy, prolific in ḥadīth, noble among men, generous, and hospitable.”

Yaʿqūb ibn Shaybah stated, “There is some inconsistency in his narrations from az-Zuhrī.”

Al-Layth himself said, “I traveled to Alexandria to see al-Aʿraj, but found he had passed away, so I performed the funeral prayer for him.”

Al-ʿIjlī and an-Nasāʾī said, “Al-Layth is trustworthy.”

Ibn Khirāsh said, “Truthful and sound in ḥadīth.”