or al-Nufayli?” He replied, “Aḥmad ibn Yūnus is a truthful man, whereas al-Nufayli is a ḥadith authority.” (1)

He went on: “I heard Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal speak about ʿAttāb ibn Bashīr: ‘Toward the end, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān abandoned him, and Aḥmad refrained from transmitting his reports. That was because al-Khaṭṭābī had related a ḥadith from him, whereupon Aḥmad said to me, ‘Does Abū Jaʿfar al-Nufayli narrate from him?’ I answered, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘Abū Jaʿfar knows him best.’” (2)

Al-Ājurri said: “I heard Abū Dāwūd declare, ‘I testify that I have never seen anyone with a better memory than al-Nufayli.’” (3)

Abū Ḥātim said: “I was narrated to by Ibn Nufayl, a reliable and trustworthy transmitter.” (4)

Al-Dāraqutni said: “He is trustworthy, reliable, and his narrations are admissible as proof.” (5)

Abū Aḥmad al-Ḥākim stated: “People were already writing down his narrations in the days of Hushaym.” (6)

Abū al-Faḍl Yaʿqūb ibn Isḥāq the jurist said: “I heard Aḥmad ibn Salamah of Nīshāpūr relate, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Muslim ibn Wārah, that he said, ‘Aḥmad ibn Ṣāliḥ in Egypt, Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal in Baghdad, Ibn Numayr in Kufah, and al-Nufayli in Ḥarrān—these are the pillars of the religion.’” (7)

Abū Ḥātim al-Bustī said: “Al-Nufayli was precise and possessed a strong memory; I heard Makḥūl…"