—albeit through a single intermediary from him.

Among those who took hadith from him were Abū Zurʿah, Abū Ḥātim, Ibrāhīm al-Ḥarbī, Abū Bakr Ibn Abī al-Dunyā, Baqī ibn Makhlad, Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī al-Marwazī, Abū Yaʿlā al-Mawṣilī, Mūsā ibn Hārūn, Abū al-Qāsim al-Baghawī, and many others.

Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn declared him reliable.

ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Junayd relates from Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn that he said, “Abū Khaythamah is sufficient for an entire tribe.”

Abū Ḥātim said, “He is truthful.”

Yaʿqūb ibn Shaybah remarked, “He is more solid than Ibn Abī Shaybah. ʿAbd Allāh—meaning Ibn Abī Shaybah—was somewhat lax in hadith; he did not differentiate between such matters, that is, the precise wording.”

Jaʿfar al-Firyābī said: “I asked Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Numayr, ‘Which of the two do you prefer, Abū Khaythamah or Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah?’ He replied, ‘Abū Khaythamah,’ and went on praising Abū Khaythamah while belittling Abū Bakr.”

Abū ʿUbayd al-Ājurī reported: “I said to Abū Dāwūd, ‘Is Abū Khaythamah a conclusive authority concerning narrators?’ He replied, ‘How excellent was his knowledge!’”

Al-Nasāʾī said, “Reliable, trustworthy,” and al-Ḥusayn ibn Qahm said, “Reliable, firmly grounded.”

The ḥāfiẓ Abū Bakr al-Khaṭīb stated: “He was reliable, firmly grounded, a memoriser, precise.”

The author adds: “Among those who narrated from him in large numbers were his own son and Abū Yaʿlā, and I myself have obtained some of his higher isnāds.”

Abū Bakr (the son) said: “My father died during the caliphate of al-Mutawakkil, on the night of Thursday, seven…"