Abi ‘Arubah and Hammam.

Yahya al-Qattan said, “Abu ‘Awanah when reading from his written copy is dearer to me than Shu‘bah when narrating from memory.”

Hanbal transmitted from Ibn al-Madini, who said: “Abu ‘Awanah is weak in his narrations from Qatadah; his notebook was lost, so he had to rely on memory, and in that section he produced singular reports.”

Ya‘qub al-Sadusi said, “The ḥadith-master Abu ‘Awanah is the most accurate of them in transmitting from Mughirah, but in what he narrates from Qatadah he is not of that rank.”

‘Ubayd Allah ibn Musa al-‘Absi related that Shu‘bah said to Abu ‘Awanah, “Your book is sound, but your memory is worthless. With whom did you pursue ḥadith?”
He answered, “With Mundhir the money-changer.”
Shu‘bah replied, “Mundhir is the one who has done this to you.”

I say: the settled conclusion is that Abu ‘Awanah is trustworthy. We never claimed that he equals Hammad ibn Zayd; rather, the scholars prefer him over Isra’il and Hammad ibn Salamah, and he is more reliable than Fulayh ibn Sulayman. He does have some slips, but the Two Shaykhs deliberately avoided reporting them.

He died in Rabi‘ al-Awwal of the year 176 AH, in Basrah.

Ahmad ibn Ishaq informed us; al-Fath ibn ʿAbd al-Salam informed us; Muhammad ibn ʿUmar, Muhammad ibn ʿAli, and Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Taraʾifi all stated:
Abu Jaʿfar ibn al-Muslimah informed us; Abu al-Fadl al-Zuhri narrated to us; Jaʿfar al-Firyabi narrated to us; Qutaybah narrated to us; Abu ‘Awanah narrated to us, from Qatadah, from Anas, from Abu Musa:
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “The likeness of the believer who recites the Quran is that of the citron: its fragrance is pleasant and its taste is pleasant (1)…,” and he mentioned the rest of the ḥadith.

I have already cited this narration in the section on Qatadah.