He narrated from his own brother, Sulaymān ibn Kathīr—who was fifty years his senior and had met al-Zuhrī and the leading authorities. Muḥammad also reported from Shuʿbah, Sufyān al-Thawrī, Isrāʾīl, Hammām ibn Yaḥyā, and a number of others besides them.

He was a man of ḥadith and expertise, having attended the circles of Basra and Kūfa. He lived to an advanced age, and his narrations are cited in all of the authentic collections. Those who transmitted from him include al-Bukhārī in his Ṣaḥīḥ (1), Abū Dāwūd in his Sunan, Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā al-Dhuhalī, ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, ʿAbd Allāh al-Dārimī, Muʿādh ibn al-Muthannā, Yūsuf ibn Yaʿqūb al-Qāḍī, Abū Muslim al-Kajjī, Abū Khalīfah al-Jumaḥī, and many others.

Abū Ḥātim said: “Reliable” (2). Al-Bukhārī stated that he died in 223 AH (3). Abū Ḥātim al-Bustī related: “Al-Faḍl ibn Ḥubbāb narrated to us from him. He was devout and virtuous, used to dye his beard, and lived for ninety years” (4).

Ibn al-Junayd al-Khattalī transmitted from Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn that he said, “He was not worthy of having ḥadith written from him.”

I (al-Dhahabī) say: The man has cleared the bridge; we know of nothing objectionable in his narrations that would warrant deeming him weak. There is no doubt, however, that Abū al-Walīd was more accurate in memorization and of higher standing.