from Dimām ibn Ismāʿīl. He said to me, “Write them all down,” or he said, “Pursue them, for he is upright,” or he said, “trustworthy.”

Al-Ḥasan al-Maymūnī said: A man asked Abū ʿAbd Allāh—meaning Aḥmad—about Suwayd, and he replied, “I know nothing about him but good.” The man then said, “Someone brought him a booklet of ‘virtues’ in which ʿAlī (1) was put first while Abū Bakr and ʿUmar were placed later.” Abū ʿAbd Allāh was astonished and remarked, “Perhaps (2) that came to him from someone else.” They said to him, “And what of the other questionable things in it?” He replied, “Then why do you yourselves listen to them? Do not listen to them. I have never heard him speak of him except favorably.”

Abū al-Qāsim al-Baghawī said: “Suwayd was among the ḥuffāẓ, and Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal used to select his narrations for his two sons, Ṣāliḥ and ʿAbd Allāh; they would frequent him and hear from him.”

Abū Dāwūd said: “I heard Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn say, ‘Suwayd died some time ago.’” I say: he meant that his reputation had died because of his leniency, for Suwayd actually outlived Yaḥyā by seven years.

He also said: “I heard Yaḥyā say, ‘His blood is lawful.’”

And I heard Aḥmad say: “There is nothing wrong with him; I hope he is truthful.”

Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā as-Sūsī al-Khazzāz said: “I asked Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn about Suwayd ibn Saʿīd. He replied, ‘Whatever he relates to you on his own, write it down; but whatever he relates after being prompted, do not.’” That is, he accepted prompting.

ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAlī al-Madīnī said: “My father was asked about Suwayd al-Anbārī, and he moved…"