the place to delve into such matters. Every scholar’s words may be accepted or set aside; no one may be taken as an example in a scholar’s mistake. That said, he is not to be rebuked for what he did on the basis of his own considered judgment—may Allah grant him pardon.

Yahya ibn Maʿin said, “In his time Wakīʿ was to the people what al-Awzaʿī was in his time.”

Ahmad ibn Hanbal stated, “I have never seen anyone more capacious in knowledge or with a stronger memory than Wakīʿ.”

I say: Ahmad held Wakīʿ in great reverence and spoke of him in lofty terms.

Muhammad ibn ʿĀmir al-Maṣīṣī recounted: “I asked Ahmad, ‘Do you prefer Wakīʿ or Yahya ibn Saʿid?’ He answered, ‘Wakīʿ.’ I said, ‘How have you preferred him over Yahya, when you know Yahya’s rank in knowledge, memorization, and precision?’ He replied, ‘Wakīʿ was a close friend of Hafs ibn Ghiyāth; when Hafs accepted the judgeship, Wakīʿ abandoned him. Yahya, on the other hand, was a friend of Muʿadh ibn Muʿadh, and when Muʿadh accepted the judgeship, Yahya did not abandon him.’ ”

Muhammad ibn ʿAlī al-Warrāq said, “The office of judge was offered to Wakīʿ, but he refused it.”

Muhammad ibn Salām al-Baykandī related: “I heard Wakīʿ say, ‘Whoever seeks hadith just as it has come down is a man of the Sunnah; whoever seeks it only to bolster his own opinion is a man of innovation.’ ”

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū al-Qāsim Ibn ʿAsākir remarked: “Wakīʿ taught in Damascus; among those who took hadith from him were Hishām ibn ʿAmmār and Ibn Dhakwān.”

Ahmad ibn Abī Khaythama said: “Muhammad ibn Yazīd narrated to us; he said: Ḥusayn…"