ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī also said, “In my estimation, Hushaym’s memorisation is more reliable than Abū ʿAwānah’s, whereas Abū ʿAwānah’s written compilation is the sounder of the two.”

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal narrated from his father who said: “Among those I observed who did not use dye were: Hushaym, Muʿtamar, Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, Muʿādh ibn Muʿādh, Ibn Idrīs, Ibn Mahdī, Ismāʿīl ibn Ibrāhīm, ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Thaqafī, Yazīd ibn Hārūn, Abū Muʿāwiyah Ḥafṣ ibn Ghiyāth, and ʿAbbād ibn al-ʿAwām.

Those who dyed their beards until they were jet-black were: Jarīr ibn Numayr, Ghundar ibn Fuḍayl al-Barsānī, ʿAbd al-Razzāq, ʿAbbād ibn ʿAbbād ibn Abī Zāʾidah, and al-Walīd ibn Muslim.

Those who used only a light dye included: Marḥūm al-ʿAṭṭār, Ḥajjāj, Saʿd and Yaʿqūb—the two sons of Ibrāhīm—Abū Dāwūd, Abū al-Naḍr, and Abū Nuʿaym.

Others who applied a light dye were: Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd, his brother Yaʿlā, and their brother ʿUmar.

Still others with a light dye were: Abū Qaṭan, Abū al-Mughīrah, ʿAlī ibn ʿAyyāsh, Abū al-Yamān, ʿIṣām ibn Khālid, Bishr ibn Shuʿayb, Yaḥyā ibn Abī Bukayr, Ghannām ibn ʿAlī, Marwān ibn Shujāʿ, Shujāʿ ibn al-Walīd, Ḥumayd al-Ruʾāsī, and Ibrāhīm ibn Khālid—I saw all of these men using dye.

ʿAbd al-Ḥāfiẓ ibn Badrān and Yūsuf ibn Aḥmad informed us, saying:

Mūsā ibn ʿAbd al-Qādir told us; Saʿīd ibn al-Bannāʾ told us; ʿAlī ibn al-Busrī told us; Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Mukhlis told us; ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Baghawī told us; Abū al-Aḥwaṣ Muḥammad ibn Ḥibbān al-Baghawī narrated to us in the year 27, together with ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿUmar and Suraij ibn Yūnus. They said:

Hushaym narrated to us; ʿAlī ibn Zayd narrated to us, from Abū Naḍrah, from Abū Saʿīd, who said:

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “I am the leader of the children of Adam on the Day of Resurrection, without boasting, and I am the first to intercede on the Day of Resurrection, without boasting.” (1)