Shaykh al-Islām was asked about a man who attended readings of books of hadith and Quranic commentary, but would not listen when al-Hilya was read to him. He was asked, “Why do you not listen to accounts of the early Muslims?”

He replied, “I will not listen to anything from Abū Nuʿaym’s book.”

He was told, “He is a leading scholar, a trustworthy transmitter, and the foremost hadith scholar of his time. Why, then, will you neither listen nor trust his transmission?”

He was then asked, “Shall the outstanding scholar of our age, Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyya, judge between us concerning Abū Nuʿaym’s standing?”

He replied, “I will listen to what Shaykh al-Islām says and defer to him.” He therefore sent this question from Damascus.

The shaykh answered:

Praise be to Allah, Lord of all worlds. Abū Nuʿaym Ahmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Asbahānī, the author of The Adornment of the Saints, The History of Isfahan, al-Mustakhraj on al-Bukhārī and Muslim, The Book of Medicine, The Deeds of the Day and Night, The Virtues of the Companions, The Proofs of Prophethood, The Description of Paradise, The Path of the Confident, and other works, is among the greatest masters of hadith and among its most prolific authors. People have benefited from his writings. He is too eminent to be described merely as a trustworthy transmitter, for his rank is higher than that. His book al-Hilya is among the finest