Yahya ibn Maʿin said, “He is trustworthy.”
More than one scholar remarked, “He is truthful, though he does slip up at times.”
Ahmad (ibn Hanbal) observed, “Yahya ibn Saʿid paid no attention to Abu Bakr, and whenever his name was mentioned in his presence, his face would grimace.”
Muhanna ibn Yahya relates from Ahmad ibn Hanbal: “Abu Bakr makes a great many mistakes, yet there is not a single error in his written books.”

ʿAli ibn al-Madini said, “I heard Yahya al-Qattan say, ‘If Abu Bakr ibn ʿAyyash were sitting right in front of me, I would not ask him about anything.’ Then he added, ‘Isrāʾīl is superior to him.’ ”

Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Numayr stated, “Abu Bakr is weak when narrating from al-Aʿmash and others.”

ʿUthman al-Darimi remarked, “Neither Abu Bakr nor his brother Hasan is of that caliber.”

Ibn Abi Hatim said, “I asked my father about Abu Bakr and about Abu l-Ahwas. He replied, ‘The two are very close; I do not care with which of them I begin.’ He also said, ‘Abu Bakr and Sharik are equal in memorization, except that Abu Bakr’s written copy is more accurate.’ ”

Nuʿaym ibn Hammad narrated, “I heard Abu Bakr say, ‘Generosity with hadith is like generosity with wealth.’ ”

As for his standing in Qurʾan recitation, he was precise in the reading of ʿAsim, although Hafs diverged from him in more than 500 letters. Hafs too is an authority in the field of recitation, though he is considered lenient in hadith.

I myself have come across a hadith of Abu Bakr with a high chain; Ahmad ibn Salamah informed us,