“Such-and-such.”

At this, Saʿid ibn Mansur exclaimed, “Subḥān Allāh!” (1) and rejected my estimate; Ibn Daysam likewise objected—and his objection weighed on me even more. So I turned to Saʿid and asked, “How many reports do you retain from Sufyan on that shaykh’s authority?” He mentioned roughly half of what I had stated. Then I faced Ibn Daysam and said, “How many do you know from Sufyan on his authority?” He listed about thirty hadith more than Saʿid, all of them from the total I had given.

I said to Saʿid, “Do you remember what you wrote down from Sufyan on his authority?” He replied, “Yes.” I said, “Then count them.” I then said to Ibn Daysam, “Count what you have written.”

He continues: When they counted, it turned out that Saʿid had some reports unknown to Ibn Daysam, while Ibn Daysam had many reports unfamiliar to Saʿid. Only a few hadith had escaped them both; when I mentioned those, I saw modesty and embarrassment on their faces. (2)

Ibn Saʿd said: “Al-Humaydi is of Banu Asad ibn ʿAbd al-ʿUzza ibn Qusayy. He was the close companion and principal transmitter of Ibn ʿUyaynah, trustworthy and abundant in hadith.”

He died in Mecca in the year 219 AH. Al-Bukhari dated it the same way. (3) It was also said: 220 AH.

He is one of the narrators cited in the introduction to Sahih Muslim.

Muhammad ibn Sahl al-Quhustani (4) reported: al-Rabiʿ ibn Sulayman told us, “I heard al-Shafiʿi say, ‘I have never seen a man afflicted with catarrh whose memory surpassed that of al-Humaydi; he had memorized ten thousand hadith of Sufyan ibn ʿUyaynah.’” (5)

Muhammad ibn Ishaq al-Marwazi said: “I heard Ishaq ibn Rahwayh say:”