Among those who narrated from him were: al-Nasāʾī, Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Ḥakīm, ʿĪsā ibn Muḥammad al-Marwazī, Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm al-Bustī, al-Ḥasan ibn Sufyān, the Imām of the Imāms Ibn Khuzaymah, and several others.

Al-Nasāʾī said, “There is no harm in him,” and on another occasion, “Reliable.”

One of the later scholars who met him and transmitted from him was the historian of Marw, Abū Rajāʾ Muḥammad ibn Ḥamdawayh. He said: “He passed away in Dhū al-Ḥijjah of the year 244 AH; he had reached a great age.”

Aḥmad ibn Hibat Allāh informed us; ʿAbd al-Muʿizz ibn Muḥammad related to us; Zāhir ibn Ṭāhir related to us; Abū Saʿd al-Kanjurūdhī related to us; Abū Aḥmad Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ḥākim related to us; Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq dictated to us; ʿUtbah ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Yuḥmidī narrated, saying:

I recited before Mālik, from al-ʿAlāʾ ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, that he heard Abū al-Sāʾib, the freedman of Hishām ibn Zuhrah, say: I heard Abū Hurayrah say:

The Messenger of Allah—may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him—said, “Whoever prays and does not recite the Mother of the Qur’an in it, his prayer is defective, defective, defective—it is incomplete.”

I said, “O Abū Hurayrah, at times I am standing behind the imām.”

He pinched my arm and replied, “Recite it, Persian, to yourself, for I heard the Messenger of Allah—may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him—say: ‘Allah, Exalted is He, has said: I have divided the prayer between Myself and My servant into two halves—half of it is for Me and half of it is for My servant.

‘The servant says: ‘All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds,’ and Allah says: ‘My servant has praised Me.’

‘The servant says: ‘The All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful,’ and Allah says: ‘My servant has extolled Me.’

‘The servant says: ‘Master of the Day of Judgment,’ and Allah says: ‘My servant has glorified Me.’

‘And this verse is between Me and My servant: ‘You alone we worship and You alone we seek for help’—it is between Me and My servant, and for My servant is whatever he asks.

‘The servant then says: ‘Guide us to the straight path, the path of those upon whom You have bestowed favor, not of those who have incurred wrath…’”