, al-Tayālisi, Jaʿfar ibn Aḥmad ibn Fāris, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn Salm al-Rāzī, Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq al-Sarrāj, Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Tabarukī, and Muḥammad ibn Ṣāliḥ ibn Bakr al-Kaylānī—the copyist of Abū Zurʿah—as well as others.
Ibn Abī Ḥātim said: I asked my father about Abū Jaʿfar al-Jammāl and Ibrāhīm ibn Mūsā. He replied, “Abū Jaʿfar transmitted a wider range of ḥadith, whereas Ibrāhīm was more exacting, and Abū Jaʿfar was truthful.”
Abū Bakr al-Aʿyan stated: “The shaykhs of Khurāsān are three: the first is Qutaybah, the second Muḥammad ibn Mihrān, and the third ʿAlī ibn Ḥujr.”
Al-Bukhārī said: “Muḥammad ibn Mihrān died at the beginning of the year 239 AH, or thereabouts.”
I read to Aḥmad ibn Hibat Allāh—from ʿAbd al-Muʿizz ibn Muḥammad—who informed us; Tamīm al-Qaṣṣār informed us; Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān informed us in the year 449 AH; Abū Aḥmad Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad, the ḥāfiẓ, informed us; Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Tabarukī in Rayy informed us; Abū Jaʿfar al-Jammāl narrated to us; ʿĪsā ibn Yūnus narrated to us, from Hishām, from his father, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr, who said:
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Allah does not take away knowledge by snatching it from the people; rather, He takes away knowledge by taking away the scholars. When He leaves no scholar behind, people will appoint ignorant leaders; they will be asked, will issue rulings without knowledge, and will go astray and lead others astray.” (1)