and Badr ibn ʿUthmān, Sufyān al-Thawrī, and a number of others.

He never undertook long journeys in search of knowledge, yet he was reliable and a recognized ḥadīth scholar.

Narrators from him include: Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, Maḥmūd ibn Ghaylān, Isḥāq ibn Manṣūr, ʿAlī ibn Ḥarb, Muḥammad ibn Rāfiʿ, ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, the brothers of Abū Shaybah, Abū Kurayb, and many others besides them.

ʿAbbās said, “I heard Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn giving al-Ḥafarī precedence in the narration of Sufyān over Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf al-Firyābī and Qabīṣa (1).”

Abū Ḥātim said, “Truthful; a righteous man.” (2)

Al-Dāraqutnī said, “He was among the upright and trustworthy.”

It is related that one day he was late in coming out for the congregational prayer. When he finally emerged he said,

“I beg your pardon, for I possess no other garment than this. I prayed in it, then gave it to my daughters so they could pray in it, after which I took it back and came out to you.”

Wakīʿ ibn al-Jarraḥ remarked, “If anyone in our time could ward off calamity, it would be Abū Dāwūd al-Ḥafarī.” (3)

ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī said, “To the best of my knowledge, I have not seen anyone in Kūfah more devoted than he.” (4)

Al-Hujaymī reported: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Jawharī told us, “I saw Abū Dāwūd al-Ḥafarī, and no part of his skin could be seen because of the thickness of his hair, and he was wearing…"