I add: He was appointed chief justice by Hārūn al-Rashīd after the tenure of Yūsuf ibn Abī Yūsuf, and he remained in office until his eyesight weakened. Al-Muʿtaṣim then relieved him of the post and replaced him with Ismāʿīl ibn Ḥammād. (1)

He lived to be one hundred and three years old, and he died in 233 AH.

229 – Yahyā ibn Bishr ibn Kathīr, Abū Zakariyyā al-Asadī (M)
A ḥadith scholar, eminent imam, and dependable authority. Abū Zakariyyā al-Asadī, originally from Kūfah, nicknamed al-Ḥarīrī, was a merchant by trade.

He travelled to Damascus, where he studied under Muʿāwiya ibn Salām al-Ḥabashī, Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, Saʿīd ibn Bishr, and Maʿrūf al-Khayyāṭ. In Kūfah he heard from Jaʿfar al-Aḥmar and al-Faḍl ibn Ṣadaqah.

Among those who transmitted from him are Muslim, Abū Muḥammad al-Dārimī, Bishr ibn Mūsā, ʿUthmān ibn Khurrādhādh, Muṭayyan, Mūsā ibn Isḥāq, Muḥammad ibn ʿUthmān ibn Abī Shaybah, and al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿUmar al-Thaqafī.

Ṣāliḥ Jazrah said, “He is truthful.” (2)
Al-Dāraquṭnī said, “Reliable.” (3)

Ibn Saʿd recorded: “He came to Damascus as a merchant and died in Kūfah, in the month of Jumādā al-Ūlā …”