He remained in close attendance upon al-Layth, narrated abundantly from him, copied his written works, and served as his scribe in charge of his property.

Among those who received ḥadith from him were: al-Layth—his own teacher—Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, al-Bukhārī, Abū Ḥātim, Abū Isḥāq al-Jawzajānī, Ismāʿīl Sammūyah, Ḥamīd ibn Zanjuyah, Abū Muḥammad al-Dārimī, ʿUthmān al-Dārimī, Abū Zurʿah of Damascus, Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Tirmidhī, Ibrāhīm ibn Dayzīl, and many others, the last of whom was Muḥammad ibn ʿUthmān ibn Abī al-Sawwār al-Miṣrī, who died in 297 AH.

Ibrāhīm ibn Dayzīl said: “Khalaf ibn al-Walīd Abū al-Muhannā narrated to us; al-Layth ibn Saʿd then related to us from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ, from someone who informed him. He traced the report back to the Prophet ﷺ, who said: ‘No one is granted gratitude and then denied further increase,’ and so on.”

Ibn Dayzīl continued, “Later I met Abū Ṣāliḥ, and he told me, ‘I am the one who conveyed this to al-Layth.’ I asked, ‘Who transmitted it to you?’ He replied, ‘Yaḥyā ibn ʿAṭārid ibn Muṣʿab, from his father, [who said]: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ… .’ I said, ‘Then the report is mursal (an interrupted chain with the Companion omitted)—no, rather muʿḍal (1) (severely interrupted, with two consecutive narrators missing).’

Al-Bukhārī sought corroboration from Abū Ṣāliḥ in his Ṣaḥīḥ; indeed, he even narrated a ḥadith from him, saying, “ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ narrated to me,” a wording preserved in some manuscripts.