Ibn al-Muqriʾ said, “I heard Abū Yaʿlā say, ‘The majority of what I heard in Basra I attended together with Abū Zurʿah.’

Al-Ḥāfiẓ ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Azdī remarked, ‘Abū Yaʿlā is among the reliable, firmly established transmitters; he followed the school of Abū Ḥanīfah.’

I say: Yes, because he studied jurisprudence with the disciples of Abū Yūsuf.

Ibn Manda said, ‘Aḥmad b. ʿAlī b. al-Muthannā b. ʿĪsā b. Hilāl b. Dīnār al-Tamīmī, Abū Yaʿlā, is one of the trustworthy narrators. He died in 307 AH.’

Abū Aḥmad b. ʿAdī stated in his Kāmil ⦗1⦘, in the entry on Muḥammad al-Ṭufāwī: ‘I heard Abū Yaʿlā say, “I possess from Abū Khaythamah the Musnad, the Tafsīr, and the mawqūf reports—all of his narrations.”’

Abū Ḥātim al-Bustī described Abū Yaʿlā as precise and pious, adding, ‘Between him and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ are three transmitters.’

Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥākim said, ‘I used to see Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥāfiẓ greatly impressed with Abū Yaʿlā al-Mawṣilī—his memorization, accuracy, and preservation of his own narrations—so much so that hardly anything of them was hidden from him.’ He then added, ‘He is reliable and trustworthy.’

Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥāfiẓ commented, ‘Had Abū Yaʿlā not busied himself with the books of Abū Yūsuf under Bishr b. al-Walīd al-Kindī, he would have managed, while in Basra, to meet Sulaymān b. Ḥarb and Abū al-Walīd al-Ṭayālisī.’

I say: He settled for their companion, the ḥāfiẓ ʿAlī b. al-Jaʿd.