Qutaybah, ʿAbdān ibn Muḥammad al-Marwazī, ʿAlī ibn Ṭayfūr al-Nasawī, Muḥammad ibn Ayyūb al-Rāzī, Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Yūsuf al-Duyrī—Duyr, the first letter pronounced with a fatḥah, is a village in Khurasan (1)—Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī (2) the Sage of Tirmidh, Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Sarrāj, and many others. The last of them to die was the preacher, Abū ʿAbd Allah Muḥammad ibn al-Faḍl ibn al-ʿAbbās al-Balkhī the ascetic, who passed away in 317 AH. From him Abū Bakr ibn al-Muqriʾ related—by authorization—in his Muʿjam (3). It is said that on one occasion he preached and four people in the gathering died from the impact of his admonition.
Abū Bakr al-Athram said, “I heard Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal mention Qutaybah and commend him.”
Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, as reported by Aḥmad ibn Zuhayr, declared, “Qutaybah is trustworthy.”
Al-Nasāʾī gave the same verdict and added, “very reliable.”
Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī said, “Trustworthy.”
Ibn Khirāsh likewise said, “Reliable.”
Abū Dāwūd remarked, “Qutaybah came to Baghdad in 216 AH, and both Aḥmad and Yaḥyā went to see him.”
Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī also recounted: “I attended his session in Baghdad when Aḥmad arrived, asked him about certain hadiths, and he narrated them for him. Then Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah came…”