ʿAffān told us, “Whenever I say to you, ‘Ḥammād narrated to us,’ and do not add his lineage, I mean Ḥammād ibn Salamah.”

Ibn Yaḥyā said, “When Ḥajjāj says, ‘Ḥammād informed us,’ he too means Ḥammād ibn Salamah. Anything transmitted by Sulaymān ibn Ḥarb or Abū al-Nuʿmān from ‘Ḥammād’ refers to Ḥammād ibn Zayd, although every one of them actually heard from both of the two Ḥammāds.”

Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā said, “The four men whose precision I found unmatched are: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, Wahb ibn Jarīr, Yazīd ibn Hārūn, and Sulaymān ibn Ḥarb.”

Ḥusayn ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Sufyān related: “I heard Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā al-Dhuhlī say, ‘I undertook three journeys and spent one hundred and fifty thousand (coins) in the pursuit of knowledge. When I reached Basra, the funeral of Yaḥyā al-Qaṭṭān met me at the city gate.’ (1)”

Ḥusayn ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Sufyān al-Nasawī also said: “I heard Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā remark, ‘Had I not begun with Basra, I would not have missed Abū Usāmah and Ḥusayn al-Juʿfī.’ (2)”

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn Muslim al-Isfarāyinī said, “I heard Ibn Sāfirī in Ramla say, ‘I asked Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, “Shall we write (hadith) from Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā?”’ He replied, ‘Write from him, for he is trustworthy.’

“I then asked Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, ‘Shall we write from Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā?’ He answered, ‘Write from him, for he is reliable—why should he not wish to narrate?’”

Abū Bakr al-Naysābūrī said: “I heard Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā say, ‘ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī said to me, “You are the heir of al-Zuhrī.”’ (3)"