, Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Aṣamm, and a great many others.

He and al-Muzanī were regarded as the foremost scholars of Egypt in their time.

Al-Nasāʾī judged him trustworthy and on another occasion said, “There is no objection to him.” (1)

The Imām of the Imāms, Ibn Khuzaymah, stated: “Among the jurists of Islam I have seen no one more knowledgeable of the sayings of the Companions and the Successors than Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam.” (2)

He also said: “Of all the people I have encountered on the face of the earth, he was the most learned in Mālik’s school and the most meticulous in preserving it. I heard him remark, ‘I used to be amazed at anyone who, when asked about a matter, would say: I do not know.’” (3)

Ibn Khuzaymah then added: “As for the chains of transmission, he did not have them memorized,” (4) and although he had been one of al-Shāfiʿī’s companions, he was among those who criticized him. A rift arose between him and al-Buwayṭī during al-Shāfiʿī’s illness. Abū Jaʿfar al-Sukkari, a close friend of al-Rabīʿ, related to me: “When al-Shāfiʿī—may Allah have mercy on him—fell ill, Ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam came and disputed with al-Buwayṭī over al-Shāfiʿī’s seat.

Al-Buwayṭī said, ‘I have more right to it than you.’

Then al-Ḥumaydī, who happened to be in Egypt, arrived and declared, ‘Al-Shāfiʿī said: No one has a greater claim to my seat than al-Buwayṭī, and none of my students is more knowledgeable than he.’

Ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam retorted, ‘You are lying!’

Al-Ḥumaydī shot back, ‘It is you—and your father and your mother—who are lying!’ whereupon Ibn ʿAbd