- ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Balkhī. Al-Khaṭīb included his biography in al-Tārīkh, citing reports from a number of hadith authorities on his authority, and said (10/94):
“He was one of the leading imams of hadith in memorization, exactitude, trustworthiness, and prolific transmission.”
- ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Aḥmad al-Khuttalī—the khāʾ being pronounced with ḍammah and the doubled tāʾ with fatḥah. Al-Khaṭīb likewise included his biography (10/290), citing al-Dāraquṭnī and others as narrating from him, then said:
“He was perceptive, knowledgeable, trustworthy, and a memorizer.”
- The judge Abū ʿUmar al-Qāsim ibn Jaʿfar. Al-Khaṭīb said (12/451):
“He was trustworthy and reliable. He served as judge in Basra, and I heard from him there Sunan Abī Dāwūd and other works.”
Abū Muʿāwiyah al-Ḍarīr was corroborated. Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh said in his Musnad (4/41/1): Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd informed us; al-Ḥasan ibn Sālim ibn Abī al-Jaʿd narrated to us from his father, from Abū Hurayrah, who said:
“Nothing of Paradise remains on earth except this Stone, the ajwah date-palms, and awāq from Paradise that are poured into the waters of the Euphrates three times each day.”
A man asked, “Did you hear it from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him?” He replied, “What else is my occupation?” The man repeated the question, and he again replied, “What else is my occupation?”
I say: Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd was al-Ṭanāfisī. Al-Ḥāfiẓ said:
“Trustworthy and retentive.”
His statement, “What else is my occupation?” means: What would my occupation be if I had not heard it? That is, he had no