his pupil, Abū Jaʿfar Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd al-Dārimī.
He gathered, compiled, and wrote a great deal.
Those who transmitted from him include the Six canonical compilers, Abū Zurʿah, Abū Ḥātim, Baqī, Ibn Abī al-Dunyā, Jaʿfar al-Firyābī, Abū Yaʿlā, Abū Bakr ibn Abī Dāwūd, Ibn Khuzaymah, Ibn Ṣāʿid, Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-Ruyānī, Qāsim al-Muṭarriz, Abū ʿArūbah, Zakariyyā al-Sājī, Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Maḥāmilī, and many others.
Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā al-Dhuhalī said, “He is an authoritative proof.” (1)
Ṣāliḥ Jazrah remarked, “His speech is truthful, though there was something in his mind, (2) and I used to rank him above Bundār.”
Abū Ḥātim stated, “Trustworthy, sound in his narrations.” (3)
Abū ʿArūbah said, “I have not seen anyone in Basra more firmly grounded than Abū Mūsā and Yaḥyā ibn Ḥakīm.” (4)
Al-Nasāʾī said, “He was unobjectionable, though he would make alterations in his book.”
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yūsuf ibn Khirāsh said, “Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā narrated to us, and he was among the most reliable.”