was among those who used to record hadith and pursue knowledge with us; what befits you is that you follow the way your father followed.

So I went to my mother and told her what he had said. She replied, “He has spoken the truth; he is a friend of your father.”

She dressed me in a gown and a waist-wrapper, and I returned to al-Muʿāfā carrying an inkwell and some sheets. He said to me, “Write: ʿIsmāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh narrated to us, from ʿAbd Rabbih ibn Sulaymān, who said: Umm al-Dardāʾ once wrote for me on my tablet, ‘Seek knowledge while you are young, and you will act upon it when you are old, for every reaper shall harvest what he has sown.’”

Abū Ḥātim said: “He is truthful.” (1)

Ibn Maʿīn was asked about a hadith transmitted by Ibn ʿAwf and replied, “He knows best the hadith of the people of his own land.”

Ibn ʿAdī said: “He is an authority on the hadith of Syria, both sound and weak.”

Ibn Jawṣā relied on Ibn ʿAwf, asking him in particular about the hadith of Ḥimṣ. (2)

Ahmad ibn Ḥanbal said: “For the past forty years there has been no one in the Levant like Muḥammad ibn ʿAwf.” (3)

A number of the senior scholars likewise praised Ibn ʿAwf, describing him as possessing remarkable memory, knowledge, and breadth of learning.

Ibn al-Munādī said: “Ibn ʿAwf died at Wāsiṭ in the year 272 AH.”