and in matters of juristic disagreement; as for Yaḥyā, he is better versed in the narrators and their teknonyms.

Muḥammad ibn ʿUthmān ibn Abī Shaybah said: I heard ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī remark:

“Whenever I came to Baghdad—this has been the case for forty years—Aḥmad would revise hadith with me. At times we would differ over a point and would then ask Abū Zakariyyā. He would rise, fetch the report, and produce it on the spot—how exact his knowledge was of where every hadith lay!”

Abū al-Ḥasan ibn al-Barāʾ said: I heard Ibn al-Madīnī say:

“I never once saw Yaḥyā ask for clarification about a hadith, nor did I ever see him reject one.”

Bakr ibn Sahl related: ʿAbd al-Khāliq ibn Manṣūr narrated to us. I said to Ibn al-Rūmī:

“I have heard some hadith folk transmit reports from Yaḥyā, adding, ‘The man who narrated these to me is one over whom the sun has never risen upon anyone greater.’” He replied, “And why are you surprised? I heard ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī say, ‘I have never seen anyone among the people his equal.’”

Ibn al-Madīnī also said: “I know of no one who wrote as much as Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn.”

Abū al-Ḥasan ibn al-Barāʾ further related: I heard ʿAlī say:

“We do not know anyone, from the time of Adam onward, who wrote down from hadith what Yaḥyā wrote.”

Aḥmad ibn ʿUqbah said: I asked Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, “How many hadith have you written?” He answered, “With this very hand I have written six hundred thousand hadith.” I said: He meant including repeated isnāds.

Ṣāliḥ ibn Aḥmad the ḥāfiẓ said: I heard Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh, and I heard my father say:

“Yaḥyā left behind one hundred and fourteen trunks and four drinking-skins(1) filled with books.”

ʿAbd al-Muʾmin said: I heard Ṣāliḥ Jazrah say: “It was mentioned to me that Yaḥyā ibn—”