Hanbal ibn Isḥāq said: “I heard Ibn Maʿīn say, ‘I once saw with Marwān ibn Muʿāwiyah a tablet on which several shaykhs were listed: so-and-so is a Rāfiḍī, so-and-so such-and-such, and Wakīʿ a Rāfiḍī. I said to Marwān, “Wakīʿ is better than you.” He asked, “Better than me?” I replied, “Yes.” He fell silent; had he answered back, the ḥadith scholars would have leapt upon him. When this reached Wakīʿ he said, “Yaḥyā is our companion,” and thereafter he recognized me and welcomed me (1).’

I say: We have already quoted Aḥmad’s remark that “the early generations felt at ease with ʿAbd al-Raḥmān.” It appears that Wakīʿ had a slight leaning toward Shiʿism, but, God willing, it did not impair him; after all, he was in essence a Kufan. He authored a work entitled The Merits of the Companions, which we have heard; in it he placed the chapter on the virtues of ʿAlī ahead of the chapter on the virtues of ʿUthmān—may Allah be pleased with them both.

Al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿUfair reported: Aḥmad ibn Sinān told us, saying, “During the session of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī no one spoke, no one stood up, no one sharpened a pen, and no one smiled. In Wakīʿ’s gathering the people sat as though in prayer; if he disapproved of anything, he would put on his sandals and withdraw. Ibn Numayr, by contrast, would flare up and shout, and if he saw someone sharpening a pen his face would change with anger.”

Tamīm ibn Muḥammad al-Ṭūsī said: “I heard Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal say, ‘Adhere to the compilations of Wakīʿ.’”

Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Masʿūd said: “I heard ʿAbdallāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal say—I heard my father state—‘Wakīʿ made mistakes in 500 hadiths.’”

ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī said: “Wakīʿ would commit linguistic slips, and if I were to transmit from him….”