al-Faḍl ibn ʿAnbasah said, “For thirty years I have not seen anyone the like of Wakīʿ.”

Ishāq ibn Rāhwayh remarked, “My memorization—and that of Ibn al-Mubārak—is the result of strenuous effort, whereas Wakīʿ’s memorization is innate. On one occasion he stood up, leaned back, and recited seven hundred hadith entirely from memory.”

Maḥmūd ibn Ādam related: “Bishr ibn al-Sarī and Wakīʿ reviewed hadith together for an entire night—from the night prayer until dawn—while I watched them. I later asked Bishr, ‘How did you find him?’ He replied, ‘I have never seen anyone with a sharper memory.’”

Sahl ibn ʿUthmān said, “I have never encountered anyone whose memory surpassed Wakīʿ’s.”

Ahmad ibn Ḥanbal observed, “Wakīʿ was naturally endowed with an exceptional memory.”

Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Numayr said, “Whenever people saw Wakīʿ, they would fall silent—out of respect for his mastery of memorization and in awe of him.”

Abū Ḥātim recounted: “Ahmad was asked about Yaḥyā, Ibn Mahdī, and Wakīʿ. He replied, ‘Wakīʿ is the most fluent of them in narration.’”

Abū Zurʿah al-Rāzī said, “I heard Abū Jaʿfar al-Jammāl say: ‘We came to visit Wakīʿ. After an hour he emerged wearing freshly washed clothes, and when we saw him we were struck by the light that sparkled from his face. A man beside me exclaimed, “Is this an angel?” We were all amazed by that radiance.’”

Ahmad ibn Sinān said, “I observed Wakīʿ in prayer: not a limb of his would move; he neither shifted his position nor leaned on one foot more than the other.”

Ahmad ibn Abī al-Ḥawārī said, “I heard Wakīʿ say, ‘We only live …’”}