in Basra, whereupon the Kufans said to them, “Keep Ismāʿīl away from us and bring whomever else you please.”

Ziyād ibn Ayyūb said, “I have never seen a single book written by Ibn ʿUlayyah.”

People used to remark: “Ibn ʿUlayyah would even count the letters.”

Abū Dāwūd stated, “Every ḥadīth scholar has erred, except Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUlayyah and Bishr ibn al-Mufaḍḍal.”

Al-Nasāʾī said, “Ibn ʿUlayyah is trustworthy, firmly reliable.”

Ibn Saʿd observed, “He was reliable, an authoritative proof. He supervised the charitable revenues of Basra and later, near the end of Hārūn’s caliphate, he served over grievances in Baghdad. He and his children then settled in Baghdad, where he bought a house and eventually died. His funeral prayer was led by his son Ibrāhīm (1), one of the leading Jahmites who debated al-Shāfiʿī (2). He authored several works and was buried in the cemetery of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mālik.”

Al-Khaṭīb said, “ʿAlī ibn Ḥujr claimed that ‘ʿUlayyah’ was actually his maternal grandmother.”

Al-ʿAyshī (3) related: ʿAbd al-Wārith ibn Saʿīd told me, “ʿUlayyah brought her son to me and said, ‘This is my child; let him stay with you so that he may take on your character.’”

He added, “He was among the most handsome youths in Basra.”

ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī declared, “I do not hold that anyone was more accurate in ḥadīth than Ismāʿīl.”