Al-Muslim ibn Muhammad, together with a group of others, informed us, saying:
Zayd ibn al-Hasan related to us; Abu Mansur al-Shaybani related to us; Abu Bakr al-Khatib related to us; Abu Bakr al-Hayri narrated to us; Abu al-‘Abbas al-Asamm narrated to us; Yahya ibn Abi Talib narrated to us; the ḥāfiẓ al-Hasan ibn Shadhan informed me; Ibn ʿArʿarah narrated to me; Yahya ibn Aktham narrated to me, saying:

“The Caliph al-Ma’mun once said to us, ‘Were it not for the standing of Yazid ibn Harun, I would have publicly declared that the Qur’an is created.’

Someone asked, ‘And who is Yazid that you should fear him?’

He replied, ‘Woe to you! It is not that he possesses temporal power—I simply hold him in high esteem. I fear that if I make the declaration he will refute me, the people will then differ, and a tribulation will arise.’ (1)

Al-ʿAbbas ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzim and Ahmad ibn Sinan transmitted—from Shadd ibn Yahya—that he heard Yazid ibn Harun say:
‘Whoever claims that the Qur’an is created is a heretic (zindīq).’

Yazid was indeed a leading authority in the Sunnah, an avowed enemy of the Jahmiyyah, and he rejected their figurative interpretation in the matter of divine istiwāʾ.

Hamdawayh ibn al-Khattab narrated—from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman al-Darimi—who said, ‘Yazid ibn Harun’s ancestry goes back to Bukhara.’ (2)

Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Rahim, known as Ṣāʿiqah, said: ‘Yazid used to apply a deep, vivid dye.’ (3)

Yahya ibn Maʿin said: ‘Yazid ibn Harun is on a par with Hushaym and Ibn ʿUlayyah.’

Ahmad ibn Hanbal said: ‘Yazid’s hearing from Ibn Abi ʿArubah is weak; he made mistakes in those hadiths.’