and Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah; ʿAmr al-Nāqid; Ibn Numayr; Ibn al-Muthannā; Maḥmūd ibn Ghīlān; Naṣr ibn ʿAlī; Aḥmad ibn Sinān al-Qaṭṭān; Bundār; Muḥammad ibn Rāfiʿ; Yaḥyā ibn Abī Ṭālib; al-Kudaymī, and many others besides them.

Naṣr ibn ʿAlī said: “Abū Aḥmad al-Zubayrī told me, ‘I would not mind if my copy of Sufyān’s book were stolen, for I have the whole of it memorised.’ ”

Ibn ʿUqda reported: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Qutaybah narrated to me, saying, “I heard Ibn Numayr declare, ‘Abū Aḥmad al-Zubayrī is truthful; I know of nothing but good concerning him. He was renowned for pursuing knowledge, reliable, his notebook sound. He was a close friend of Abū Nuʿaym; their audition from Sufyān was at roughly the same period, though Abū Nuʿaym was older and had attended earlier (1).’ ”

Hanbal narrated from Aḥmad: “He frequently erred in transmitting Sufyān’s hadith (2).”

Ibn Maʿīn said, “Reliable,” and on another occasion, “There is no harm in him.”

Al-ʿIjlī stated: “A Kufan, reliable, though he inclined toward Shiʿism (3).”

Bundār said: “I have never seen anyone with a better memory than Abū Aḥmad al-Zubayrī (4).”

Abū Ḥātim remarked: “A ḥāfiẓ of hadith, devout and diligent, though he did have some slips (5).”

Abū Zurʿah and others said: “Truthful.”

Al-Nasāʾī said: “There is no objection to him.”