And Ahmad ibn Salih said, “Ibn Wahb compiled one hundred and twenty thousand hadith reports; all of them—apart from two—are in the possession of Harmalah.”

I say: In spite of this great quantity, Ibn ʿAdi admits, “I do not know of a single objectionable hadith authentically traced back to him.”

Abu Talib narrated from Ahmad ibn Hanbal, who remarked, “How sound and well established are Ibn Wahb’s narrations! He distinguishes what he heard directly from what was read to him, and one report from another.”

Someone asked him, “Was he not poor at taking notes?” He replied, “Indeed, but when you examine his hadith—what he transmits from his teachers—you will find it sound.” (This has already been quoted in summary.)

Al-Harith ibn Miskin said, “I was with Sufyan ibn ʿUyaynah while Ibn Wahb was present. Sufyan was asked about an issue, so he turned to Ibn Wahb for the answer and then said, ‘This is the shaykh of the people of Egypt; he reports from Malik such-and-such.’”

Abu Hatim al-Busti observed, “Ibn Wahb was the one who devoted himself to gathering the transmissions of the scholars of the Hijaz and of Egypt; he preserved their hadith for them, collected it, authored works, and was among the worshipful.”

Yunus al-Sadafi said, “The judgeship was offered to Ibn Wahb, so he pretended to be insane and kept to his house.”

Ibn Abi Hatim related: “Ahmad, the nephew of Ibn Wahb, told us, saying, ‘My uncle said:

“I was with Malik when he was asked about interlacing the toes during ablution, and he did not deem it necessary. I waited until the gathering had thinned out and then said, ‘We have a sunnah concerning that: Al-Layth and ʿAmr ibn al-Harith narrated to us from Abu ʿUshshana, from ʿUqbah ibn ʿAmir, that the Prophet ﷺ said: ‘If …’”’”