—who said, “Ibn ʿUyaynah has a better memory than Ḥammād ibn Zayd.”

Harmalah reported, “I heard al-Shāfiʿī say: ‘I have never seen anyone endowed with the instruments of knowledge to the extent that Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah is, and I have never seen anyone more restrained from issuing legal verdicts. I have likewise never seen anyone offer a clearer explanation of hadith than he does.’”

ʿAbd Allah ibn Wahb said, “I do not know anyone more knowledgeable about the Qur’an’s interpretation than Ibn ʿUyaynah.” He also remarked, “Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal knows more about the Sunan than Sufyān.”

Wakiʿ said, “We wrote down hadiths from Ibn ʿUyaynah in the days of al-Aʿmash.”

ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī stated, “Among al-Zuhri’s students, no one is more precise than Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah.”

Ibn ʿUyaynah himself said, “My father took me on pilgrimage while ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ was still alive.”

Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allah al-ʿIjli said, “Ibn ʿUyaynah was absolutely reliable in hadith; his narrations numbered about seven thousand, and he left behind no written books.”

Bahz ibn Asad declared, “I have never seen anyone like Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah.” He was asked, “Not even Shuʿbah?” He replied, “Not even Shuʿbah.”

Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn said, “He is the most reliable transmitter of the reports of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār.”

Ibn Mahdī observed, “Ibn ʿUyaynah possesses knowledge of the Qur’an and of hadith commentary that Sufyān al-Thawrī did not have.”

Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī related to us; Jaʿfar ibn ʿAlī related to us; Abū Ṭāhir al-Salafī related to us; Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār related to us; Abū Yaʿlā al-Khalīlī said, “I heard ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Ṣāliḥ the Qur’an-reciter say, ‘I heard al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī…’”}.mnuommeskeyuaswives]}