Those who transmitted from him include: Abū ʿAbd Allāh Ibn Manda, Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥākim, Manṣūr ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Khālidī, Abū Muʿādh ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn Rizq Allāh al-Sijistānī, Abū l-Ḥasan Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Hārūn al-Zawzanī, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Manṣūr al-Nuqātī, and many others besides them.

Abū Saʿd al-Idrīsī said: “He held the judgeship of Samarqand for a period. He was among the jurists of the religion and the preservers of the traditions, and he was knowledgeable in medicine, astronomy, and the various branches of learning.”

He compiled the authentic Musnad—by which he meant the book al-Anwāʿ wa-al-Taqāsīm—together with al-Tārīkh and al-Ḍuʿafāʾ, and he trained the people of Samarqand in jurisprudence.

Al-Ḥākim said: “Ibn Ḥibbān was one of the vast vessels of knowledge in fiqh, language, ḥadith, and exhortation, and he was among the most intelligent of men.”

He arrived in Nishapur in 334 AH, proceeded on to the judgeship of Nasā, then returned to us in 337 AH. He stayed with us in Nishapur, built the khanqah, and a number of his works were read aloud in his presence. He left Nishapur for his homeland Sijistān in 340 AH, and men travelled to him there to hear his books.

Abū Bakr al-Khaṭīb said: “Ibn Ḥibbān was trustworthy, distinguished, and perceptive.”

Abū ʿAmr Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ stated in Tabaqāt al-Shāfiʿiyyah: “Ibn Ḥibbān fell into severe error in some of his critical judgments.”

Ibn Ḥibbān said in the course of al-Anwāʿ: “Perhaps we have written from more than two thousand shaykhs.”

I say: Such is how lofty aspirations should be—this, in addition to his mastery of fiqh and Arabic, his brilliant virtues, and the sheer number of works he authored.