Abu Zur‘ah said, “Whoever missed out on Muhammad ibn Humayd will have to make up for it by collecting some ten thousand hadith.”

ʿAbd Allah ibn Ahmad reported: “I heard my father say, ‘Knowledge will remain in Rayy as long as Muhammad ibn Humayd is alive.’”

Abu Quraysh, the ḥāfiẓ, stated, “I asked Muhammad ibn Yahya, ‘What is your view of Muhammad ibn Humayd?’ He answered, ‘Do you not see me relating from him?’ ”

Abu Quraysh also recounted, “I was in the gathering of Muhammad ibn Ishaq al-Saghani when he said, ‘Ibn Humayd narrated to us.’ I objected, ‘You transmit from him?’ He replied, ‘And why should I not, when Ahmad and Yahya ibn Maʿin both narrated from him?’ ”

Al-Bukhari, however, remarked, “His narrations require examination.”

Salih ibn Muhammad said, “We used to harbor suspicions about Ibn Humayd.”

Abu ʿAli al-Naysaburi related, “I said to Ibn Khuzaymah, ‘If the Ustadh were to narrate from Muhammad ibn Humayd—after all, Ahmad ibn Hanbal spoke highly of him.’ He responded, ‘Ahmad did not really know him. Had he known him as we do, he would never have praised him at all.’ ”

Abu Ahmad al-ʿAssal said, “I heard Faḍlak say, ‘I went in to see Ibn Humayd while he was grafting chains of transmission onto texts.’ I remarked, ‘This practice is his downfall; otherwise, I do not think he actually forged a text.’ This is what the critics mean when they say, ‘So-and-so stole hadith.’ ”

Yaʿqub ibn Ishaq, the jurist, said, “I heard Salih ibn Muhammad al-Asadi declare, ‘I have never seen anyone more adept at lying than Sulayman al-Shadhakuni and Muhammad ibn Humayd.’”