‘And did you see Ibn ʿAwn?’ He answered, ‘Yes.’ He then said, ‘And did you see Yūnus?’ ‘Yes,’ he replied. He continued, ‘How is it that you never kept their company, yet you used to sit with ʿAwf? By Allah, ʿAwf was not content with a single innovation until he came to hold two: he was a Qadari and a Shiʿi.’

Al-Bukhārī said: ‘Jaʿfar ibn Sulaymān al-Harashī differs in some of his narrations.’

Al-Saʿdī said: ‘He reported objectionable material, yet he is steadfast and does not lie.’

The author of al-Hilyah stated: ‘He kept the company of Thābit, Abū ʿImrān al-Jawnī, Farqad al-Sabakhī, and Shumayt ibn ʿAjlān.’

Sayyār narrated from Jaʿfar who said: ‘I frequented Thābit al-Bunānī and Mālik ibn Dīnār for ten years.’

Ishāq al-Saffār informed us; Yūsuf al-Ādamī informed us; Abū al-Makārim al-Labbān informed us; Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥaddād informed us; Abū Nuʿaym informed us; Sulaymān ibn Aḥmad informed us; Muʿādh ibn al-Muthannā informed us; Musaddad informed us; Jaʿfar ibn Sulaymān narrated to us, from Yazīd al-Rishk, from Muṭarrif, from ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn who said:

‘The Messenger of Allah ﷺ dispatched a detachment and put ʿAlī in command of them. ʿAlī took a slave-girl, and they objected to him. Four of the Companions therefore pledged among themselves, saying, “When we meet the Messenger of Allah ﷺ we shall tell him.” Whenever the Muslims returned from a journey they would first go to the Messenger of Allah and greet him. So when the detachment arrived, they greeted the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. One of the four stood up and said, “O Messenger of Allah, have you not seen what ʿAlī has done—such and such?”

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ turned toward him, anger showing on his face, and said, “What do you want with ʿAlī?”—three times—“ʿAlī is of me and I am of him, and he is the walī (patron) of every believer after me.” (1)

It was also narrated by Qutaybah, Bishr ibn Hilāl, and ʿAffān, and it is counted among the exclusive narrations of Jaʿfar.