Abū ʿUbayd al-Ājurrī said: Abū Dāwūd was asked about Muʿāwiyah ibn Hishām and Yaḥyā ibn Ādam, and he replied, “Yaḥyā is the unrivalled man of the people.” (1)

Abū Ḥātim remarked, “Reliable—he used to engage deeply in jurisprudence.” (2)

Yaʿqūb ibn Shaybah said: “Trustworthy, with a vast number of ḥadith; physically robust, yet he did not live to a great age. I heard ʿAlī say, ‘May Allah have mercy on Yaḥyā ibn Ādam—what knowledge he possessed!’ and ʿAlī kept praising him.”

I heard ʿUbayd ibn Yaʿīsh say that he heard Abū Usāmah declare, “Whenever I looked at Yaḥyā ibn Ādam I was reminded of al-Shaʿbī”—meaning that he, too, was a comprehensive scholar. (3)

He nevertheless has a report that is classed as munkar. It was transmitted by ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī, al-Ḥulwānī, al-Faḍl ibn Sahl, and al-Mukharrimī, who said: Ibn Abī Dhiʾb related to us, from al-Maqburī, from his father, from Abū Hurayrah, who said:

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “When you are told a ḥadith from me that you recognize and do not find objectionable, then affirm it—whether I actually said it or not—for I speak what is acknowledged and not repudiated. But when you are told a ḥadith from me that you find objectionable and do not recognize, then reject it—whether I actually said it or not—for I do not utter what is repudiated; I utter only what is acknowledged.”

Al-Dāraqutnī recorded it, and its transmitters are trustworthy.

Ibn Khuzaymah said: “There is some discussion about the authenticity of this ḥadith. We have not found, in the East or the West, anyone who knows it except through Yaḥyā’s narration, nor have I met a single ḥadith scholar who considers it established from Abū Hurayrah.” (4)