and Isḥāq (1) and Abū ʿUbayd. He answered:

“As for the one of them who is most versed in jurisprudence, that is al-Shāfiʿī—though he has related only a small number of hadith. As for the most scrupulous, it is Aḥmad. The finest memorizer is Isḥāq, while the most knowledgeable of the dialects of the Arabs is Abū ʿUbayd.” (2)

Al-Ḥasan ibn Sufyān said: I heard Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm al-Ḥanẓalī say, “Abū ʿUbayd surpasses us all in knowledge, excels us in refinement, and has compiled the widest range of material. We are in need of him, whereas he is not in need of us.” (3) Al-Ḥākim heard this statement from the jurist Abū al-Walīd, who said, “I heard al-Ḥasan say it.”

Aḥmad ibn Salamah reported: I heard Isḥāq ibn Rāhwayh say, “The truth—which Allah loves—is that Abū ʿUbayd al-Qāsim ibn Sallām is more learned in jurisprudence than I, and more knowledgeable than I am.” (4)

Al-Khaṭīb, in his History, recounts: Masʿūd ibn Nāṣir told me, ʿAlī ibn Bushrā informed us, Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Āburī narrated, “I heard Ibn Khuzaymah say: I heard Aḥmad ibn Naṣr the reciter say: Isḥāq declared, ‘Allah is not shy of the truth: Abū ʿUbayd is more knowledgeable than I, than Ibn Ḥanbal, and than al-Shāfiʿī.’” (5)

Abū al-ʿAbbās Thaʿlab said, “Had Abū ʿUbayd lived among the Children of Israel, he would have been a marvel.” (6)