And through this same chain Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah informed us: Ḥumayd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān narrated to us, from Hishām ibn ʿUrwah, from his father, who said, “I heard Usāmah ibn Zayd being asked, ‘How did the Messenger of Allah ﷺ travel when he departed from ʿArafāt?’ He replied, ‘He would move at al-ʿanaq, and when he came upon an open space he would nassa.’ Hishām added, ‘Al-nass is quicker than al-ʿanaq.’ Muslim recorded both reports (1) through Abū Bakr, so our chain matches his.
Ibn ʿAllān informed us; al-Kindī narrated to us; al-Qazzāz (2) informed us; Abū Bakr al-Khaṭīb told us; Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī al-Muḥtasib, from Muḥammad ibn ʿImrān al-Kātib, said: ʿUmar ibn ʿAlī narrated to me, saying: Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Murabbaʿ told us, “I heard Abū ʿUbayd say:
‘The mentors of ḥadith are four: the most learned of them in what is lawful and unlawful is Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal; the finest in diction and delivery is ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī; the one who produced the best book is Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah; and the most knowledgeable about sound and weak reports is Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn.’”
Al-Bukhārī and Muṭayyin stated: “Abū Bakr died in Muḥarram of the year 235 AH.”
I add: The last person to transmit from him was Abū ʿAmr Yūsuf ibn Yaʿqūb al-Naysābūrī, who lived on until a year in the twenties of the three-hundreds.
Abū Bakr was succeeded by his son, the dependable ḥāfiẓ: