Abū Yaʿlā al-Khalīlī (1) said: “I received his narrations through ten of his pupils. He also left writings that clearly attest to his knowledge and his expertise in this field.”
I add: Abū Aḥmad al-Ḥākim transmitted from him and stated that some scholars had voiced reservations about his transmission of al-Zubayr’s book al-Nasab (2).
I further note that he died in 312 AH, having nearly reached ninety years of age.
Al-Ḥākim said: “Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdūs al-ʿAnazī informed us; al-Ḥasan ibn Naṣr al-Ṭūsī narrated to us—in Herat, in the session of ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd—who said: Ḥaydūn ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Wāsiṭī related to us; Ṣilah ibn Sulaymān related to us, from Ashʿath ibn ʿAbd al-Malik, from the poet al-Farazdaq, who said:
“Abū Hurayrah saw my feet and remarked, ‘O Farazdaq, I notice that your feet are small; seek for them a place in Paradise.’
I replied, ‘But I have many sins.’
He said, ‘Do not despair (3), for I heard the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—say: “In the west there is a gate left open for repentance; it will not be closed until the sun rises from the west.”’ (4)"
(1) The hadith master Abu Ya‘la Khalil b. Abd Allah b. Ahmad al-Qazwini (d. 446/1054), author of al-Irshad fi ‘Ulama’ al-Bilad, a biographical dictionary that arranges hadith transmitters and other scholars by region up to his own time. The passage cited by our author comes from al-Irshad, folio 176, with some supplementary lines.
(2) Mizan al-I‘tidal, 1:509, records criticisms of his transmission of Kitab al-Nasab from al-Zubayr b. Bakkar.
(3) Do not grieve.
(4) Sila b. Sulayman was declared weak by Yahya b. Ma‘in; al-Nasa’i deemed him “abandoned,” and al-Daraqutni held that his narrations from Ibn Jurayj and Shu‘ba must be discarded, though those from Ash‘ath b. ‘Abd al-Malik may be considered. Al-Farazdaq—whose name is Ghalib b. Hammam—was likewise graded unreliable by Ibn Hibban, who said he habitually slandered chaste women, and therefore his reports are to be avoided. Nevertheless, the marfu‘ form of the report is authentic, for Muslim (no. 2703) includes it in Kitab al-Dhikr wa-l-Du‘a, chapter “The desirability of seeking abundant forgiveness,” on the authority of Abu Hurayra: “Whoever repents before the sun rises from the West, Allah will accept his repentance.”