It was said: Ibn Ma‘in’s roots were in al-Anbar, but he grew up in Baghdad. Among the senior masters of his generation—ʿAli ibn al-Madini, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Ishaq ibn Rahuyah, Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah, and Abu Khaythamah—he was the eldest. They behaved toward him with courtesy, acknowledged his standing, and he possessed real gravitas and majesty: he rode a mule and dressed with refinement—may Allah, Exalted is He, have mercy on him.
Ahmad ibn Zuhayr said: I heard Yahya declare, “I am a mawla (client) of al-Junayd.”
Ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman al-Murri related that Ahmad ibn Yahya al-Jarud said:
Ibn al-Madini stated: “The knowledge of Basra culminated in Yahya ibn Abi Kathir and Qatadah; the knowledge of Kufa in Abu Ishaq and al-Aʿmash; and the knowledge of the Hijaz in Ibn Shihab and ʿAmr ibn Dinar. The learning of these six men then passed to twelve scholars: Ibn Abi ʿArubah, Maʿmar, Shuʿbah, Hammad ibn Salamah, the two Sufyans, Malik, al-Awzaʿi, Ibn Ishaq, Hushaym, Abu ʿAwanah, Yahya ibn Saʿid, and Yahya ibn Abi Zaydah—until he also mentioned Ibn al-Mubarak, Ibn Mahdi, and Yahya ibn Adam. The combined knowledge of all of them ultimately centered in Yahya ibn Maʿin.”
I (the author) say: Indeed, and likewise in Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah, ʿAli, and several others.
After that it was transmitted to Abu ʿAbd Allah al-Bukhari, Abu Zurʿah, Abu Hatim, Abu Dawud, and a number of their peers;
then to Abu ʿAbd al-Rahman al-Nasaʾi, Muhammad ibn Nasr al-Marwazi, Ibn Khuzaymah, and Ibn Jarir.
Thereafter, knowledge began to diminish gradually—there is no power save through Allah.
Through my chain back to al-Khatib: Muhammad ibn ʿAli al-Muqriʾ told us; Abu Muslim ibn Mihran told us; ʿAbd al-Muʾmin ibn Khalaf told us; I heard Salih ibn Muhammad