Abū Dāwūd said, “I asked Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn about him, and he swore that the man was a fabricator.”

Abū Ḥātim added, “I was told in Egypt that Aḥmad ibn ʿĪsā purchased the books of Ibn Wahb as well as the book of Mufaḍḍal ibn Faḍāla.” (1)

I say: The accepted practice is to cite his ḥadīth as evidence, so where are the reports that he alone transmits, that we might soften—i.e., downgrade—them on his account? He did in fact meet Yaghnam ibn Sālim—one of the ruined narrators—heard from him, and later settled in Iraq. (2)

He died in Ṣafar 243 AH at Sāmarrāʾ.

His father used to trade with Tustar, which is today called Shushtar, and for that reason Aḥmad came to be known as “al-Tustarī.” (3)

17 – Aḥmad ibn ʿĪsā ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-ʿAlawī *
Descendant of ʿUmar ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib; kunya Abū Ṭāhir al-ʿAlawī, from Medina.

He narrated from his father and from Ibn Abī Fudayk.

Among those who transmitted from him are Abū Yūnus al-Madanī, Muḥammad ibn Manṣūr al-Kūfī, and others.

He has some reports that are rejected. (4)