Yūsuf said, “A small portion of scrupulous piety and humility suffices in place of much strenuous effort in deeds.”

Ibn Maʿīn judged him trustworthy.
Abū Ḥātim remarked, “He is not to be relied upon as proof.”
Al-Bukhārī said, “He buried his books, so his ḥadith did not reach us as they should.”

51 – Isḥāq al-Azraq Abū Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf * (ʿA)
He is the Imām, ḥāfiẓ, and authoritative ḥujja, Abū Muḥammad Isḥāq ibn Yūsuf ibn Mirdās al-Qurashī, al-Wāsiṭī, known as al-Azraq.

Born: 117 AH.

He related ḥadith from al-Aʿmash, Ibn ʿAwn, Fudayl ibn Ghazwān, Misʿar ibn Kidām, Sufyān, Sharīk, and many others.

He ranked among the foremost Qurʾān reciters.
He recited before Ḥamzah al-Zayyāt, learned the variant readings (ḥurūf) from Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh and others, and possessed a well-known preferred reading.

His reading was transmitted by Ismāʿīl ibn Hūd al-Wāsiṭī, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Hāniʾ, and others.

He was also one of the leading ḥadith scholars.
Those who narrated from him include Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, Aḥmad ibn Manīʿ, Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā, Saʿdān ibn Naṣr, and Abū—