ʿUthmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar ibn Makhzūm ibn Yaqaẓah, the imam, the ḥāfiẓ, and chief traditionist of Kūfa, Abū ʿAwn al-Makhzūmī al-ʿAmrī—the last nisba tracing back to ʿAmr ibn Ḥurayth the Companion.
He was born in the early teens of the second Islamic century (c. 113 AH).
He heard ḥadith from Hishām ibn ʿUrwa, Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Anṣārī, al-Aʿmash, Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid, Abū al-ʿUmays ʿUtbah ibn ʿAbd Allāh, Abū Ḥanīfa, Misʿar, and others.
Those who narrated from him include Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh, Isḥāq al-Kawsaj, Abū Isḥāq al-Jawzajānī, Aḥmad ibn al-Furāt, ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-ʿAbsī al-Qaṣṣār, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Abī al-Muthannā al-Mawṣilī, and a great many others.
Abū Ḥātim remarked, “He is truthful.” ⦗1⦘
Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal said, “A righteous man; there is nothing objectionable about him.” ⦗2⦘
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb—one of the frequent narrators from Jaʿfar—recounted:
“Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal asked me, ‘Where are you heading?’
‘I am going to Kūfa,’ I replied.
He said, ‘Be sure to seek out Ibn ʿAwn,’ meaning Jaʿfar ibn ʿAwn. ⦗3⦘”
Some have reported that Jaʿfar ibn ʿAwn died at the beginning of 207 AH, and he was