Baghdadi, cloth-merchant, trader, and the compiler of the Sunan, a work that has reached us in a single volume.
He was born in the year 151 AH.
He received hadith from Shurayk ibn ʿAbd Allah, Ismaʿil ibn Zakariyya, Hushaym ibn Bashir, Ibn Abi al-Zinad, Khalid al-Tahhan, Abu Muʿawiyah, Ibn al-Mubarak, Ismaʿil ibn Jaʿfar, Jarir ibn ʿAbd al-Hamid, Sufyan ibn ʿUyaynah, Ismaʿil ibn ʿUlayyah, Hafs ibn Ghiyath, and a number of others.
Those who transmitted from him include Ahmad ibn Hanbal, his son ʿAbd Allah, al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, Ibrahim al-Harbi, Tamtam, Abu Hatim, Abu al-ʿAlaʾ Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Jaʿfar al-Wakiʿi, and many more.
Ahmad ibn Hanbal declared him reliable (1).
Abu Hatim said, “Reliable, an authoritative proof” (2).
Tamtam said, “The trustworthy, dependable Muhammad ibn al-Sabbah al-Dulabi narrated to us” (3).
Ibn Hibban stated, “He was born in the village of Dulab, in the district of Rayy.”
Yaʿqub ibn Shaybah said, “Reliable, a man of hadith, and well-versed in the narrations of Hushaym” (4).