they grew up, then sought out hadith, then compiled works, and finally taught; among them was Rawḥ ibn ʿUbādah. (1)

Yaʿqūb said: Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar also related to me, “I asked Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn about Rawḥ, and he replied, ‘He is truthful (ṣadūq); there is nothing objectionable about him. His very narrations bear witness to his honesty. At times he reports directly from Ibn ʿAwn, and at other times he reports from Ḥammād ibn Zayd who reports from Ibn ʿAwn.’

I then said to Yaḥyā, ‘People claim that Yaḥyā al-Qaṭṭān criticized him.’

He answered, ‘That is false; he never spoke against him at all. He is reliable.’

Yaʿqūb added: I heard ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī …—he mentioned this story, but I did not record it precisely—then ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad narrated to me, “I heard ʿAlī say:

‘They used to assert that Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd spoke against Rawḥ. I was with Yaḥyā when Rawḥ came to him and asked him about a report from Ashʿath. After he left, I said to Yaḥyā, “Do you not recognize that man?”

He said, “No.”

I said, “That was Rawḥ ibn ʿUbādah.” It seemed he knew him but had not joined the name to the person.

He then said, “Was that Rawḥ? I have always known him to pursue ḥadith and commit it to writing.”’

ʿAlī continued: ‘Nevertheless, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī used to find fault with Rawḥ and object to his narrations of Ibn Abī Dhīb from al-Zuhrī—those legal questions (masāʾil).

Maʿn said to me, “What use are they to him? They are with a fellow Basran of yours; the book was with us here when Ibn Abī Dhīb read it to us.”

So I went to ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and informed him, and—as I think he phrased it—he said, “He has cleared it for me.”’ (2)

Yaʿqūb ibn Shaybah said: Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar reported that Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn said, ‘This al-Qawārīrī narrates from twenty fabricators, and he says: “No…”’