His birth took place in 104 AH.

He transmitted hadith from Safwān ibn Sulaym, Abū Ḥāzim al-Aʿraj, Suhayl ibn Abī Ṣāliḥ, Rabīʿah al-Raʾy, Sharīk ibn Abī Namir, Hishām ibn ʿUrwah, and others.

He reached an exceptional old age and became a solitary authority in his time.

Those who narrated from him include Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī, Aḥmad ibn Ṣāliḥ, Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam, and a great many more.

Among his contemporaries who reported from him was Baqiyyah ibn al-Walīd.

Abū Zurʿah and al-Nasāʾī said, “There is nothing objectionable about him.”

Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā stated, “I have never seen anyone with better character than Abū Ḍamrah, nor anyone more generous with his knowledge. He said to us, ‘By Allah, if it were possible for me to relate to you everything I possess in a single session, I would certainly do so.’”

I say: he lived ninety-six years and died in 200 AH.

Among the narrations I have received through his higher chains is the following: Khadījah bint al-Riḍā informed us; Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Wāḥid informed us; ʿAbd al-Munʿim ibn ʿAbd Allāh informed us; ʿAbd al-Ghaffār al-Shīrawiyy (1) informed us; Muḥammad ibn Mūsā informed us; Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Aṣamm related to us; Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam related to us; Anas ibn ʿIyāḍ related to us, from Hishām ibn ʿUrwah, from his father, from ʿĀʾishah, who said:

“By Allah, the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—never left off two rakʿahs with me after the ʿAṣr prayer, ever.” (2)