the ḥadith.
I said, “Yes, O shaykh—did Saʿīd ibn Wāṣil relate it to you?”
He answered, “Yes.” (1)

Abū ʿAmr Aḥmad ibn Naṣr al-Khaffāf said: “I saw Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā after his death and asked him, ‘What has Allah done with you?’ He replied, ‘He forgave me.’ I asked, ‘And what became of your ḥadith?’ He said, ‘They were written in gold ink, and I was raised to the highest Illiyyīn.’ (2)

Abū Ḥāmid ibn al-Sharqī related: I heard Abū ʿAmr al-Mustamlī say, ‘After Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā passed away, I buried two thousand fascicles of his books.’

Al-Ḥākim said: I heard Yaḥyā ibn Manṣūr the judge say: “I asked Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Rajāʾ, ‘Was Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā of freeborn Arab stock or was he a client (mawlā)?’ He replied, ‘Neither freeborn Arab nor client.

His grandfather was a Persian client of Ibn Muʿādh. Muʿādh ibn Muslim ibn Rajāʾ had been held as a hostage by Muʿāwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān—his own father had pledged him. Muʿādh later apostatised, and Muʿāwiyah wished to kill his son Rajāʾ. Present at the time was al-Qaʿqāʿ ibn Shawr al-Dhuhlī, who pleaded for him; Muʿāwiyah granted the request and released him. Thus was their lineage.’ ”

Al-Daghulī said: I heard Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā say, “When I travelled with my son to Iraq, a group of strangers accompanied me and asked, ‘Which narration in Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal’s collection is the rarest?’ I would reply, ‘When we reach him, I will ask him for a report that will benefit you.’

When we entered his presence, I asked him about the narration of Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, from ʿUthmān ibn Ghiyāth, from Ibn Buraydah, from Yaḥyā ibn Yaʿmar, from Ibn ʿUmar, from ʿUmar—the ḥadith on faith. (3) He said, ‘Abū ʿAbd Allāh, I do not possess it on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd…’"