He narrated a small number of reports from al-Rabīʿ ibn Ṣabīḥ, Bakr ibn Khunays, Ibn al-Sammāk, and a few others.

Transmitters from him include: Khalaf ibn Hishām, Zakariyyā ibn Yaḥyā ibn Asad, and Yaḥyā ibn Abī Ṭālib.

Maʿrūf was once mentioned in the presence of Imām Aḥmad and someone said, “His learning is slight.”
Aḥmad replied, “Hold your tongue! What more could be sought from knowledge than what Maʿrūf has already reached? (1)”

Ismāʿīl ibn Shaddād reported: Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah asked us, “What has become of that ḥabr—the learned sage—who is among you in Baghdad?”
We said, “Who do you mean?”
He answered, “Abū Maḥfūẓ Maʿrūf.”
We said, “He is well.”
He responded, “The people of that city will remain in a good state so long as he is among them. (2)”

Al-Sarrāj said: Abū Bakr ibn Abī Ṭālib narrated to us, saying, “I entered Maʿrūf’s mosque. He came out and said, ‘May Allah greet you with peace, and may He grace us and you through our sorrows.’ Then he gave the call to prayer; he trembled, his hair stood on end, and he bent forward until he nearly fell.”

From Maʿrūf himself: “When Allah intends evil for a servant, He shuts the door of action upon him and opens for him the door of argumentation. (3)”

Jusham ibn ʿĪsā said: I heard my uncle Maʿrūf ibn al-Fayrūzān say, “I heard Bakr ibn Khunays remark, ‘How can you practice piety when you do not know what you are to avoid?’”

Aḥmad al-Dawraqī transmitted this from Maʿrūf, who would then add, “If you are not proficient at …”