and Ibrāhīm ibn Matwayh, Abū Zurʿah, Abū Ḥātim, Abū ʿArūbah al-Ḥarrānī, Ibn Abī Dāwūd, Abū Bishr al-Dūlābī, ʿAbd al-Ghāfir ibn Salāmah, Ibn Jawṣā, and a number of others.
Abū Ḥātim said, “I heard Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal remark, ‘Yaḥyā ibn ʿUthmān of Ḥimṣ—what an excellent shaykh he is!’”
Abū Ḥātim also said, “He was righteous and truthful.” (1)
Muḥammad ibn ʿAwf was asked about Yaḥyā and his brother ʿAmr; he replied, “Both are reliable. Yet Yaḥyā was a devoted worshipper, while ʿAmr had a keener eye for ḥadith.”
Al-Nasāʾī said, “Reliable.”
Abū ʿArūbah reported: “I heard al-Musayyab ibn Wāḍiḥ say, ‘In a dream I saw someone who told me, “If any of the abdāl (spiritual substitutes) remain, it is Yaḥyā ibn ʿUthmān al-Ḥimṣī.”’”
Ibn ʿAdī said: “He, his brother, and their father are unobjectionable. I have not found anyone who impugned Yaḥyā except Abū ʿArūbah, from whom I heard the remark, ‘Yaḥyā is not worth a date-stone in ḥadith; he merely parrots whatever he is given.’”
He (Ibn ʿAdī) added, “Yet he was known for truthfulness.”
Muḥammad ibn ʿAwf said, “I saw Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal esteem Yaḥyā ibn ʿUthmān highly and even place him in front to lead the prayer.”
I say: He died in 255 AH.