al-Layth for twenty years. (1)

Al-Faḍl ibn Muḥammad al-Shaʿrānī said, “I never saw ʿAbd Allah ibn Ṣāliḥ except that he was either relating hadith or glorifying Allah.” (2)

Yaʿqūb al-Fasawī said, “The righteous man ʿAbd Allah ibn Ṣāliḥ narrated to us.”

Al-Ramādī reported—on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ: “We attended the ʿĪd al-Aḍḥā in Baghdad with al-Layth in the year 161 AH.” (3)

ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī said, “I struck out the hadith of al-Layth’s scribe and do not transmit anything from him.” (4)

Ibn Abī Ḥātim said: “I heard my father and Abū Zurʿah say, ‘The hadith “Indeed Allah has chosen my Companions” is fabricated, and the blame for it rests with Abū Ṣāliḥ.’”

I say: Among the most objectionable things for which they criticized Abū Ṣāliḥ is his report from Nāfiʿ ibn Yazīd, from Zuhrah ibn Maʿbad, from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, from Jābir—traced back to the Prophet—“Indeed Allah has chosen my Companions above all people (5),” together with the remainder of the lengthy narration.

However, he was corroborated in this by Saʿīd ibn Abī Maryam, from Nāfiʿ; the report was transmitted by ʿAlī ibn Dāwūd al-Qanṭarī,