Among those who transmitted ḥadith from him were Muslim—who cited him as authoritative evidence—Abū Zurʿah, Abū Ḥātim, Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī, al-Ṭaḥāwī, Abū Bakr ibn Ziyād, ʿAbdān, Ibn Khuzaymah, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Ḥātim, and many other scholars from both the eastern and western lands.

Abū Aḥmad Ibn ʿAdī said: “I saw the shaykhs of Egypt unanimously regard him as weak, yet scholars from farther regions did not hesitate to receive transmissions from him—such as Abū Zurʿah, Abū Ḥātim, and those below their rank. (1)”

ʿAbdān told me: “In our days his conduct was upright. Whoever had not met Ḥarmalah relied on him, and everything that was uniquely narrated from Ibn Wahb was found in the possession of Abū ʿUbayd Allāh (2)—among these, for example, is the booklet on the Dajjāl. (3)”

Ibn ʿAdī went on to say: “I heard Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ashʿath relate: ‘We were with Aḥmad, the nephew of Ibn Wahb, when Hārūn ibn Saʿīd al-Aylī rode by. He greeted him and said, “Shall I entertain you with something? The hadith folk came to me and asked about you, so I replied, ‘It is Abū ʿUbayd Allāh who should be asked about us; we are not the ones to be asked about him. He is the one who used to dictate to us in his uncle’s presence, and he is the one who used to read the texts for us.’”’ ”

Ibn ʿAdī added: “Everything they found objectionable in his narrations is still within the range of tolerable error; even if no one else reported it, perhaps his uncle had singled him out with it. (4)”

Al-Ḥākim said: “I heard Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb al-Ḥāfiẓ relate that he heard Abū Bakr ibn Khuzaymah being asked, ‘Why did you transmit from Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Wahb, yet leave…’ ”