in Iraq are: Wakīʿ, Yaḥyā al-Qaṭṭān, and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān.
Hanbal ibn Isḥāq said: “I heard Ibn Maʿīn remark, ‘I once saw with Marwān ibn Muʿāwiyah a tablet on which the names of several shaykhs were written: so-and-so is a Rāfiḍī, so-and-so such-and-such, and Wakīʿ is a Rāfiḍī. I said to Marwān, “Wakīʿ is better than you.” He asked, “Better than me?” I replied, “Yes.” He fell silent; had he replied, the ḥadīth scholars would have pounced on him. When this reached Wakīʿ he said, “Yaḥyā is our companion.” After that, the leading authorities in Iraq were Wakīʿ, Yaḥyā al-Qaṭṭān, and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān.’”
This report was also transmitted by Aḥmad ibn Abī al-Ḥawārī from Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, who added: “I mentioned it to Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, and he said, ‘The most firmly established authority we have in Iraq is Wakīʿ.’”
Al-Sājī relates: “Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad told me, ‘I heard Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn say, “I have never seen anyone with a better memory than Wakīʿ.”’”
Yaʿqūb al-Fasawī, when informed of Yaḥyā’s statement—‘Whoever prefers ʿAbd al-Raḥmān to Wakīʿ is under the curse’—remarked: “Speech more in keeping with the ways of the scholars would have been fitter; anyone who holds himself to account would not say such a thing. Wakīʿ is upright, virtuous, and a master memorizer.”
Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal was asked, “If Wakīʿ and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān differ, whose view do we adopt?” He answered, “We follow ʿAbd al-Raḥmān more often, especially regarding the narrations of Sufyān, for he devoted particular care to them. The early authorities were satisfied with ʿAbd al-Raḥmān’s transmissions; he avoided drinking intoxicants, and he held that nothing should be planted in the lands along the Euphrates (1).”
I say: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān possessed a striking dignity, and he would lose consciousness whenever he heard the Qur’an recited—this was reported by the author of Shariʿat al-Maqāriʾ.
ʿAbbās al-Dūrī said: “I asked Yaḥyā, ‘Concerning the narrations of al-Aʿmash, if Wakīʿ and Abū Muʿāwiyah disagree, what do we do?’ He replied, ‘We suspend judgment until someone appears who corroborates one of them.’ He then added, ‘In his time the journey was undertaken to see Wakīʿ.’”
Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī said: “Wakīʿ’s powers of memorization surpassed those of Ibn al-Mubārak.”