report it as a mursal (unconnected) narration. Ibn Maʿīn said the same.

ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd relates: I asked Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, “Which of the two do you prefer, ʿĪsā ibn Yūnus or Abū Muʿāwiyah?” He answered, “Reliable—and reliable.”

Ḥarb ibn Ismāʿīl reports that ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī was asked about ʿĪsā ibn Yūnus and he exclaimed, “Bakhin, bakhin! He is reliable and trustworthy.”

Ibn ʿAmmār said, “He is more firmly established than Isrāʾīl; ʿĪsā is a hujjah (decisive authority).”

Al-ʿIjlī said, “Reliable, firmly grounded; he lives on the frontier.”

It is said that he once visited Ibn ʿUyaynah, who greeted him, “Welcome to the faqīh (jurist), son of a faqīh, grandson of a faqīh!”

Abū Zurʿah remarked, “He was a ḥāfiẓ—a master memoriser.”

Abū Hammām al-Sakūnī said, “ʿĪsā ibn Yūnus—the reliable, approved narrator—related ḥadith to us.”

Ibn Rāhwayh said: I told Wakīʿ, “I intend to travel to ʿĪsā ibn Yūnus.” He replied, “You will be visiting a man who has conquered knowledge!”

Ibrāhīm ibn Hāshim al-Baghawī recounts: I heard Bishr ibn al-Ḥārith say, “ʿĪsā ibn Yūnus was fond of my handwriting; he would take the parchment and have me read it to him.

“I once copied from some people’s manuscript an item that was not among his ḥadith. When they noticed the honour he showed me, they slipped those narrations in under his name.

“He began reading to me and striking out those reports, which upset me. He said, ‘Do not be distressed. Had there been even a single wāw, they could never have inserted it upon me—or, he said, had there been a wāw I would have recognised it.’”

Hanbal narrated from Abū Nuʿaym that he preferred ʿĪsā ibn Yūnus over