his son Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā, as well as Aḥmad ibn Mūsā, Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam, Baḥr ibn Naṣr, and others.
Abū Ḥātim said, “He is trustworthy.” (1)
Ibn ʿAdī stated, “His ḥadith is recorded despite the weakness in it.” (2)
Abū ʿAmr al-Dānī remarked, “He transmitted the variant readings from the disciples of al-Ḥasan and others.
He also formulated his own preferred reading on the basis of transmitted reports. He resided in Ifrīqiyyah for a long time, and there the people heard from him his Tafsīr—something unmatched by any of the earlier scholars—and his book al-Jāmiʿ.
He said: ‘He was reliable, firmly grounded, knowledgeable of the Book and the Sunnah, and well-versed in language and Arabic literature. He was born in the year 124 AH.’ (3)
Ibn Yūnus said: ‘He died in Egypt, after performing ḥajj, in the month of Ṣafar, in the year 200 AH.’
129 – al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Walīd al-Juʿfī * (ʿ)
The Imām, exemplar, ḥāfiẓ, master reciter, expert in tajwīd, ascetic, the last
(1) Al-Jarh wa al-Taʿdil, 9/155. Ibn Hibban lists him in al-Thiqat, noting: “He may make mistakes.” Saʿid b. ʿAmr al-Baradhʿi relates: “I asked Abu Zurʿa about Yahya b. Salam al-Maghribi, and he replied, ‘There is no problem with him, though he sometimes errs.’” Abu al-ʿArab states in Tabaqat al-Qayrawan that he was a Qurʾan commentator of standing, the author of many works in several fields, a hadith hafiz, and among the best of God’s servants.
(2) Ibn ʿAdi, al-Kamil, fol. 846. Al-Dhahabi, Mizan al-Iʿtidal, 4/381, transmits al-Daraqutni’s judgement that he is weak and adds: “The most objectionable narration of his is what the leading transmitters relate from Bahr b. Nasr—Yahya b. Salam—from Saʿid—from Qatada—from Anas: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to his Companions, ‘Which tree is farthest from the one who throws stones?’ They answered, ‘Its uppermost branch.’ He replied, ‘Likewise, the foremost row (in prayer) is the most secure from Satan.’ This report is exceedingly munkar (denounced).”
(3) Ibn al-Jazari, Tabaqat al-Qurraʾ, 2/373.
(*) Ibn Saʿd, Tabaqat, 6/396; Khalifa, Tarikh, p. 471; Khalifa, Tabaqat (ed. 1318).