and said to him, “Shoot that grave from which the light is rising.”

He did so, and when morning came I went out early; the arrow was lodged in the grave of Yahya ibn Yahya—may Allah have mercy on him.

Al-Nasa’i said: “He was trustworthy, firmly grounded.” (1)

Ahmad ibn Sayyar al-Marwazi said: “Yahya ibn Yahya, a client of Banu Minqar, was reliable, handsome, with a long beard—righteous, virtuous, and protective of his own honour.” (2)

Al-Nasa’i also said: “Yahya ibn Yahya al-Naysaburi, the trustworthy, the reliable.” (3)

‘Uthman ibn Sa‘id al-Darimi related: “One day I went to rehearse before Yahya ibn Yahya some of the doctrines of the Jahmiyya, hoping to draw from him a refutation of them. Present in his gathering that day were Husayn ibn ‘Isa al-Bistami, Ahmad ibn al-Harish the judge, Muhammad ibn Rafi‘, Abu Qudama al-Sarkhasi—so I think—and other senior scholars. Yahya rebuked me angrily and said, ‘Be silent!’ He then admonished those men, deeming it a grave matter that I should even repeat the Jahmiyya’s words and expressing his disapproval.

Nasr ibn Zakariyya of Isbijab (4) said: “I heard Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Dhuhli say: I heard Yahya ibn Ma‘in declare:

‘Defending the sunnah is better than striving in the path of Allah.’

I said to Yahya, ‘A man spends his wealth, exhausts himself, and goes out to fight—yet this is better than that?’

He replied, ‘Yes, by a great deal.’"