then write from Abū Ghassān (1).

Abū Ḥātim said: Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn stated, “In Kūfah there is no one more precise than Abū Ghassān (2).”

Yaʿqūb ibn Shaybah said: “Reliable, his manuscripts are sound, and he is among the devout worshippers.”

He also said: “He was trustworthy and painstaking (3).”

Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Numayr remarked: “Abū Ghassān is a ḥadith scholar, one of the leading imams of the ḥadith scholars (4).”

Abū Ḥātim further said: “Abū Ghassān used to dictate to us from his own autograph copy, and he would not dictate a ḥadith until he had read it through. He was versed in grammar. I have never seen anyone in Kūfah more exact than Abū Ghassān—neither Abū Nuʿaym nor anyone else. Abū Ghassān is more precise than Isḥāq ibn Manṣūr, and he himself is meticulous and trustworthy. He possessed merit, righteousness, devotion, sound ḥadith, and uprightness. He would keep two prayer mats with him; whenever I looked at him it was as though he had just emerged from his grave—may Allah, Exalted be He, have mercy upon him (5).”

Al-Nasāʾī and others said: “Reliable (6).”

Muḥammad ibn Saʿd and others stated: “He died in Rabīʿ al-Ākhir, in the year 219 AH (7).”