I said, “Had he actually met him, he would have declared him: reliable, an authority.”
In Dhamm al-Kalām (1) there is a narration that Yaḥyā ibn Ḥassān transmits from Shuʿbah, yet I do not think he ever met him.
Marwān ibn Muḥammad al-Ṭāṭarī—according to the report related from him by Aḥmad ibn Abī al-Ḥawārī—said:
“If you had seen me and al-Walīd ibn Muslim searching for hadith before Yaḥyā ibn Ḥassān arrived, you would have pitied us; we did not know how to seek hadith properly until Yaḥyā ibn Ḥassān came.” (2)
Abū Dāwūd al-Sijistānī remarked, “Yaḥyā ibn Ḥassān left behind so-and-so thousand dinars, even though he had possessed no inherited wealth.” (3)
Abū Saʿīd ibn Yūnus said, “He was trustworthy, his narrations were good; he authored books and taught from them.” (4)
Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Jarawī, Ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī, and Ibn Yūnus recorded that he died in 208 AH.
Ibn Yūnus added, “He passed away in Rajab, in Egypt; whoever says he died in 207 is mistaken.”
Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAlī, Hadiyyah bint ʿAskar, and several others informed us, saying:
“ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar informed us; ʿAbd al-Awwal ibn ʿĪsā informed us; ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad informed us; ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥammuyah informed us; ʿĪsā ibn ʿUmar informed us; ʿAbd …”