ibn al-ʿAlāʾ, Ibrāhīm al-Harbī, Abū Bakr ibn Abī al-Dunyā, Ṣāliḥ ibn Muḥammad Jazara, ʿUthmān ibn Khurrādhādh, Khalaf ibn ʿUmar al-ʿUkbarī, Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā al-Ḥulwānī, and many others besides.

Abū Ḥātim said, “He is reliable, trustworthy; indeed he may even be more dependable than ʿAffān.” (1)

As for Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, he spoke disparagingly of him and would not allow writing his narrations, because Saʿduwayh had answered under coercion during the miḥnah (the inquisition). Aḥmad used to say, “He is prone to every sort of taṣḥīf—scribal errors—imaginable.” (2)

Ṣāliḥ Jazara related: “I heard Saʿīd ibn Sulaymān, and he was asked, ‘Why do you not say ḥaddathanā?’ He replied, ‘Everything I have reported to you I truly heard; I have never practiced tadlīs (concealed transmission). Would that I were to relate all that I have heard.’”

I also heard him say, “I have performed the pilgrimage sixty times.” (3)

Abū Bakr al-Khaṭīb remarked, “Saʿduwayh was among the People of the Sunnah, though he gave the required answer during the miḥnah.” (4)

Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-ʿIjlī reported that, after Saʿduwayh emerged from the ordeal, he was asked, “What did you do?” He answered, “We fell into unbelief and then repented.” (5)

Muḥammad ibn Saʿd said: “Saʿduwayh was prolific in ḥadīth and reliable. He settled in Baghdad, traded there, and died there on the 4th of Dhū al-Ḥijjah in the year 225 AH.” (6)