Ibn ʿUyaynah said, “I have little inclination to sit with you; were it not for ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī, I would not have sat at all.”

Khalaf ibn al-Walīd al-Jawharī related: “One day Ibn ʿUyaynah came out to us while ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī was present. He said, ‘Had it not been for ʿAlī, I would not have come out to you.’”

ʿAlī ibn Saʿīd al-Rāzī transmitted from Sahl ibn Zanjalah, who said: “We were with Ibn ʿUyaynah in the presence of the leading hadith scholars. He asked, ‘The man from whom we have narrated four hadiths—the one who transmits from the Companions—who is he?’ Ibn al-Madīnī answered, ‘Ziyād ibn ʿIlāqah?’ He replied (1), ‘Yes.’”

Al-Sājī said: “I heard al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAẓīm say: I heard Rūḥ ibn ʿAbd al-Muʾmin say: I heard Ibn Mahdī say, ‘ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī is the most knowledgeable of people regarding the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), and especially the hadith of Ibn ʿUyaynah.’”

Ibn ʿAdī said: “ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Qirṣāfah narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī, the nephew of Ghazāl, narrated to us; he said: I heard al-Qawārīrī; I heard Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd say, ‘People reproach me for sitting with ʿAlī, yet I learn from him more than he learns from me.’”

A similar report was transmitted by Ṣāliḥ Jazrah from al-Qawārīrī.

ʿAbbās al-ʿAnbarī said: “At times Yaḥyā al-Qaṭṭān would declare, ‘I will not teach for a month,’ or, ‘I will not narrate for such-and-such a period.’ Yet I was informed that he narrated to Ibn al-Madīnī before the month had elapsed. I spoke to Yaḥyā about this, and he said, ‘I make an exception for ʿAlī, for we benefit from him more than he benefits from us.’”

Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn said, “ʿAlī is among the most prolific transmitters from Yaḥyā al-Qaṭṭān.”