ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Ḥātim said, “I heard Mūsā ibn Isḥāq, the judge, remark, ‘I have never met anyone with a better memory than your father.’

He had met Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah, Ibn Numayr, Ibn Maʿīn, and Yaḥyā al-Ḥimmānī (1).

Al-Khaṭīb said, ‘Abū Ḥātim was one of the firmly grounded imams among the master memorizers of hadith… His first session of audition was in the year 209 AH (2).’

Abū al-Shaykh, the ḥāfiẓ, reported: ʿAbd Allah ibn Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb told us, “I heard Abū Ḥātim say:
‘We come from Isfahān, from the village of Jurwakān (3). During my father’s lifetime our relatives used to visit us, but after his death they stopped coming (4).’”

Al-Khalīlī said, “Abū Ḥātim was knowledgeable about the differing views of the Companions, the jurisprudence of the Successors, and those who followed them. I heard my grandfather and a number of others—who had heard ʿAlī ibn Ibrāhīm al-Qaṭṭān—say, ‘I have never seen anyone like Abū Ḥātim!’

We said to him, ‘But you met Ibrāhīm al-Ḥarbī and Ismāʿīl al-Qāḍī.’

He replied, ‘I have not seen anyone more comprehensive than Abū Ḥātim, nor anyone better than him.’”

ʿAlī ibn Ibrāhīm al-Rāzī said: Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī al-Raqqām narrated to us (5): I heard al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Dāristīnī say:

“I heard Abū Ḥātim say: Abū Zurʿah said to me, ‘I have never seen anyone more eager in seeking hadith than you.’

I answered, ‘My son ʿAbd al-Raḥmān is certainly keen.’

He replied, ‘Whoever resembles his father has done no wrong (6).’”

Al-Raqqām said: