He narrated from Ibrāhīm ibn Abī al-ʿAnbas al-Kūfī, al-Ḥasan ibn Salām al-Sawwāq, ʿUbayd ibn ʿAbd al-Wāḥid al-Bazzār, Abū Qilābah al-Raqāshī, and others of similar stature.

Those who transmitted from him include the ḥadith master Abū al-Qāsim ibn Thābit, Ṣāliḥ ibn Aḥmad al-Hamadhānī, Aḥmad ibn Turkān, Abū Bakr ibn Bukhayt, the judge Abū Bakr al-Abharī, and several of the scholars of Hamadhān.

Abū Yaʿlā al-Khalīlī said in his Irshād: “He is a trustworthy, leading scholar, agreed upon by all.”

He studied under the shaykhs of Baghdad, Kūfa, Jabal, and Baṣra; he possessed thorough expertise, adhered firmly to the Sunnah, and was devoted to worship. I heard ʿĪsā ibn Aḥmad al-Dīnawarī say:

“ʿUmar ibn Sahl the ḥāfiẓ once came out holding a petition and said to me, ‘I wish to climb the Hill of Repentance and offer it up to Allah on behalf of the ignorant people of Dīnawar.’ He did so and later moved to Qirmisīn (1).”

Al-Khalīlī also said: “I heard Abū al-Qāsim ibn Thābit remark, ‘I have never seen anyone comparable to ʿUmar ibn Sahl the ḥāfiẓ in piety’ (2).”

I say: He died in 330 AH, in his eighties. He was not widely known because he lived in a secluded corner of the land—may Allah have mercy on him.

Ibn Salāmah informed us, on the authority of Aḥmad ibn Ṭāriq; al-Salafī reported to us; al-Mubārak ibn al-Ṭuyūrī reported to us; Abū Isḥāq al-Barmakī reported to us; Abū Bakr ibn Bukhayt reported to us; ʿUmar ibn Sahl ibn Mujāhid Ismāʿīl al-Dīnawarī the ḥāfiẓ narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn al-Rammāḥ dictated to us; Aḥmad ibn Yūnus narrated to us; Sufyān narrated to us, from ʿĀṣim al-Aḥwal, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: “We stayed with the Messenger…”