go and meet him, for he had taken narration from ʿAlī ibn al-Jaʿd.

Al-Ḥasan himself heard the compiled works of the Imām Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah directly from the author, and he studied the book “al-Sunan” under Abū Thawr the jurist. He learned jurisprudence from Abū Thawr, kept his company, excelled under him, and issued legal opinions according to his school.

Among those who reported from al-Ḥasan were: the Imām of the Imāms Ibn Khuzaymah; Yaḥyā ibn Manṣūr the judge; Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb ibn al-Akhram; Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥāfiẓ; Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Naqqāsh, the Qurʾān reader; Abū ʿAmr ibn Ḥamdān; Abū Bakr al-Ismāʿīlī; Abū Ḥātim Ibn Ḥibbān; his own grandson Isḥāq ibn Saʿd al-Nasawī; Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Hāshimī; ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Nasawī; and many others besides. They travelled to him in large numbers and crowded around him.

Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar al-Bustī recounted: “I heard al-Ḥasan ibn Sufyān say, ‘Had I not been occupied with Ḥibbān ibn Mūsā, I would have brought you narrations from Abū al-Walīd al-Ṭayālisī and Sulaymān ibn Ḥarb.’”

He meant that his intense study of Ibn al-Mubārak’s writings in the possession of Ḥibbān delayed him.

Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥāfiẓ said: “I heard al-Ḥasan ibn Sufyān remark, ‘What kept me from meeting Yaḥyā ibn Yaḥyā was my mother—she would not permit me to travel to him.’ He added, ‘So Allah compensated me with Abū Khālid al-Farrāʾ, whose chains were even higher than those of Yaḥyā ibn Yaḥyā.’”

Al-Ḥākim observed: “Al-Ḥasan ibn Sufyān—Khurasan’s foremost ḥadith scholar of his era—stood unrivalled in reliability, the sheer volume of his material, understanding, jurisprudence, and refined conduct.”

Abū Ḥātim Ibn Ḥibbān said: “Al-Ḥasan was one who travelled widely, authored works, and narrated ḥadith with keen alertness, sound faith, and unwavering adherence to the sunnah.”

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī al-Rāzī declared: “There is no equal to al-Ḥasan anywhere on earth.”

Al-Ḥākim also related: “I heard Muḥammad ibn Dāwūd ibn Sulaymān say: ‘We were in the company of…’”