and Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Kusa (1) al-Wāsitī, ʿAlī ʿAllān, Ibn Abī Dāwūd, and others.
Al-Nasāʾī said, “Had he withdrawn the ḥadith of the Cave transmitted through Bukayr ibn al-Ashajj, I would have narrated from him.” (2)
He also said on another occasion, “He is not strong.” (3)
It is reported that he died in Ramadan of the year 253 AH.
80 – al-Dārimī, Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd ibn Ṣakhr * (Kh, M, D, T, Q)
The Imām, the erudite scholar, the jurist, the ḥāfiẓ, the trustworthy master—Abū Jaʿfar Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd ibn Ṣakhr ibn Sulaymān al-Dārimī, al-Sarakhsī.
He was born in the early 180s AH.
He heard ḥadith from al-Naḍr ibn Shumayl, Jaʿfar ibn ʿAwn, Rawḥ, ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn ʿAbd al-Wārith, Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq al-Ḥaḍramī, Abū ʿĀṣim al-Nabīl, Ḥabbān ibn Hilāl, Wahb ibn Jarīr, ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Wāqid, and their peers. He travelled extensively, expanded his learning, and his reputation spread far and wide.
(1) Tahdhib al-Kamal, 1/113, records him as Muhammad b. Ahmad b. Sa id b. Kusa. Al-Dhahabi (al-Mushtabih, 515), Ibn Makula (Ikmal al-Ikmal) and Ibn Hajar (al-Tabsir) all state that Kusa is pronounced with a damma on the initial kaf (Ku-). Ibn Nasir al-Din adds in Tawdih al-Mushtabih that the final vowel is maqsur, i.e. the name ends with a short "a".
(2) Mizan al-I tadal, 1/100.
(3) Mizan al-I tadal, 1/100; Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, 1/31. Ibn Hajar reports that Zakariyya al-Saji judged him thabt (reliable), al- Ajli declared him thiqa (trustworthy), and Ahmad b. Salih said: “I have always known him to be upright since the day I met him.” Ibn Hibban also lists him among the trustworthy (al-Thiqat).
(*) Jarh wa-ta dil 2/53; Tarikh Baghdad 4/166, 169; Tabaqat al-Hanabila 1/45–46; al-Ansab 6/279; Tahdhib al-Kamal, 22; Tadhhib al-Tahdhib 1/11/1; Tadhkirat al-Huffaz 2/548; al-Ibar 2/4; al-Wafi bi-l-wafayat 6/390; Ibn Kathir, Tarikh, 11/13; Tahdhib al-Tahdhib 1/31–32; al-Nujum al-Zahira 2/252; Tabaqat al-Huffaz, 241; Khulasat Tadhhib al-Kamal, 6; Shadharat al-Dhahab 2/127.