the Naysaburi, the foremost ḥadith scholar of Khurasan in his day.
He was born sometime after 170 AH.
He met Sufyan ibn ʿUyaynah, though I do not know why he never actually heard ḥadiths from him.
He did hear from ʿAbd Allah ibn Numayr, Asbat ibn Muhammad, Malik ibn Suʿayr (1), Yaʿqub ibn Ibrahim, Wahb ibn Jarir, ʿAbd al-Razzaq, Yaʿla ibn ʿUbayd, Anas ibn ʿIyad al-Laythi, ʿAbd Allah ibn Maymun al-Qaddah, Abu Usamah, Muhammad ibn Bishr, Ibn Abi Fudayk, Marwan ibn Muhammad al-Tatari, and many others in the Hijaz, Yemen, Syria, Kufah, Basrah, and Khurasan.
He gathered ḥadiths and compiled books.
Those who narrated from him include his two close companions—Muhammad ibn Rafiʿ and Muhammad ibn Yahya—and even his own teacher, Yahya ibn Yahya al-Tamimi, heard from him.
Others who transmitted from him are al-Nasaʾi, Ibn Majah, Abu Hatim, Abu Zurʿah, Musa ibn Harun, Ibrahim ibn Abi Talib, Ibn Khuzaymah, Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab al-Farraʾ, Abu Hamid ibn al-Sharqi (2), and many more, the last of whom was Muhammad ibn al-Husayn al-Qattan.
Among those said to have reported from him are Abu Muhammad al-Darimi, al-Bukhari, and Muslim.
He is unquestionably reliable; the most that was held against him was that