and Ibn Abī Zāʾidah; these men were people of ḥadīth.

ʿAlī said, “When Ḥafṣ finally brought out his notebooks, matters were exactly as Yaḥyā had described: they contained detailed reports and exact wordings. (1)

ʿAbbās, transmitting from Yaḥyā, said: “Ḥafṣ is more reliable than ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Ziyād and more reliable than Ibn Idrīs.”

Al-Nasāʾī and others rated him: “Trustworthy.”

Ibn Maʿīn stated, “Everything Ḥafṣ related in Baghdad and Kūfah came solely from his memory; he never produced a written copy. They wrote down from him three thousand—or perhaps four thousand—ḥadīths, all from memory.”

Abū Dāwūd said, “ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī, after the senior students of al-Aʿmash, would give precedence to no one but Ḥafṣ ibn Ghiyāth. ʿĪsā ibn Shādhān also preferred Ḥafṣ, whereas some expert preservers preferred Abū Muʿāwiyah.”

Dāwūd ibn Rushayd remarked, “Ḥafṣ makes many mistakes.”

Ibn ʿAmmār said, “Ḥafṣ would not respond with so much as a single word to anyone; he would say, ‘Had your heart been in it, you would have understood it.’

“He was extremely strict in ḥadīth. A man once asked him to clarify one word of a report, and he answered, ‘By Allah, you never heard that from me, and I know who you are.’ (2)

“I said to him, ‘What is wrong with you! Your narrations from al-Aʿmash are only “from so-and-so, from so-and-so”; they never contain the phrases “he narrated to us” or “I heard.”’

“He replied, ‘Al-Aʿmash narrated to us, saying: I heard Abū ʿAmmār from Ḥudhayfah, who said: “There will certainly come people who recite the Quran, arranging it as precisely as one sets a reed straight; they will not leave out a single alif or waw, yet their faith will not pass beyond their throats.”’”