knowledge when he was twenty years old.
ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Abi Hatim said: My father was asked about Yahya, and he replied, “He is an imam.”
Al-Nasa’i said: Abu Zakariyya is one of the leading authorities in hadith—reliable and trustworthy.
Al-Kalabadhi said: Al-Bukhari narrated from him; later he transmitted—through ʿAbd Allah ibn Muhammad—from Yahya in his commentary on Surah Bara’ah (1), and he also narrated—from an unnamed ʿAbd Allah—from him concerning the mention of the Days of Ignorance.
Ibn al-Marzuban said: Abu al-ʿAbbas al-Marwazi related to us, “I heard Dawud ibn Rushayd say that Ibn Maʿin’s father was a sorcerer from a village near al-Anbar called Niqya, and it is said that Pharaoh was from the people of Niqya (2).”
Al-ʿIjli said: His father Maʿin was a scribe for ʿAbd Allah ibn Malik.
Ibn ʿAdī said: A scholarly scribe who claimed kinship with Yahya ibn Maʿin told me, “Maʿin was in charge of the land tax of Rayy. When he died, he left to his son Yahya one million dirhams, and Yahya spent it all on hadith until he did not even have a sandal left to wear.”
Abu al-Ghana’im al-Qaysi authorized us; Abu al-Yumn al-Kindi informed us; Abu Mansur al-Qazzaz informed us; Abu Bakr al-Khatib informed us; Abu Bakr al-Harashi and Abu Saʿid al-Sayrafi informed us, saying: Abu al-ʿAbbas al-Aṣamm informed us, “I heard al-ʿAbbas ibn Muhammad say: I heard Yahya ibn Maʿin, and al-ʿAbbas al-ʿAnbari asked him, ‘Abu Zakariyya, from which branch of the Arabs are you?’ He replied, ‘I am a client of the Arabs.’”