and such figures as Abū Abd al-Rahmān al-Nasāī, al-Tirmidhī, Ibn Khuzayma, Muhammad ibn Nasr al-Marwazī, Muhammad ibn Jarīr al-Tabarī, Abd Allāh ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and Abd al-Rahmān ibn Abī Hātim.
Then, (among)(1) those who came after them were figures such as Abū Hātim al-Bustī, Abū Bakr al-Najjād (2), Abū Bakr al-Naysābūrī, Abū al-Qāsim al-Tabarānī, Abū al-Shaykh al-Asbahānī, Abū Ahmad al-Assāl al-Asbahānī, and others like them.
Then, among those who came after these were figures such as Abū al-Hasan al-Dāraqutnī, Ibn Manda, Abū Abd Allāh al-Hākim (3), Abd al-Ghanī ibn Saīd, and countless others like them.
These men and others like them knew more than others about the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him. This is so even though(4), within this group, some transmitted more reports, others knew better than they did which reports were sound and which were unsound, and still others had a deeper understanding of hadith than their peers.
Ahmad ibn Hanbal said, “Knowledge of hadith and a sound understanding of it are dearer to me than memorizing it.”
Alī ibn al-Madīnī said, “The noblest knowledge is understanding the texts(5) of the hadiths and knowing the standing of the narrators.” For Yahyā ibn Maīn, Alī ibn al-Madīnī, and others like them had greater knowledge of which hadiths were sound and which were unsound(6) than men such as Abū Ubayd and Abū Thawr, whereas Abū Ubayd and Abū Thawr