Ahmad bin Ibrāhīm ad-Dawraqī narrated to me, he said, Abd us-Salām al-Wābisī narrated to me, he said, Abd Allah bin Ja’far ar-Raqqī narrated to me, on authority of Ubayd Allah bin Amr, he said: ‘Yahyā bin Abī Unaysah was a liar’.

Ahmad bin Ibrāhīm narrated to me, he said, Sulaymān bin Harb narrated to me, on authority of Hammād bin Zayd, he said, Farqad was mentioned near Ayyūb, so he said: ‘Indeed Farqad is not a companion of Ḥadīth’.

Abd ur-Rahman bin Bishr al-Abdī narrated to me, he said, I heard Muhammad bin Abd Allah bin Ubayd bin Umayr al-Laythī was mentioned near Yahyā bin Sa’īd al-Qattān, so he weakened him severely. Then it was said to Yahyā: ‘More weak than Ya’qūb bin Atā ’?’ He said: ‘Yes’. Then he said: ‘I did not see anyone transmitting on authority of Muhammad bin Abd Allah bin Ubayd bin Umayr’.

Bishr bin al-Hakam narrated to me, he said, I heard Yahyā bin Sa’īd al-Qattān weaken Hakīm bin Jubayr and Abd al-A’lā; and he weakened Yahyā Mūsā bin Dīnār ; [Yahyā] said: ‘His Ḥadīth are Rīh or ‘wind’ [i.e., not established and weak]. [Yahyā] weakened Mūsā bin Dihqān and Īsā bin Abī Īsā al-Madanī. said, ‘I heard al-Hasan bin Īsā saying ‘Ibn al-Mubārak said to me: ‘When you go to Jarīr then write down all of his knowledge except the Ḥadīth of 3 - do not write the Ḥadīth of Ubaydah bin Mu’attib, as-Sarī bin Ismā’īl, or Muhammad bin Sālim’.’

Muhammad bin Abbād and Sa’īd bin Amr al-Ash’athī narrated to me on authority of Ibn Uyaynah; Sa’īd said Sufyān informed us on authority of Hishām bin Hujayr, on authority of Tāwus, he said (Bushayr bin Ka’b) came to Ibn Abbās so he set about narrating to him. Ibn Abbās said to him: ‘Go back to such-and-such narration‘. Then returned to it and narrated it. So said to him: ‘Go back to such-and-such narration’. Then returned to it and narrated it. Thus said to him: ‘I do not know whether you know all of my Ḥadīth and you reject this one and that, or if you reject all of my Ḥadīth and know this one and that?’ Ibn Abbās said to him: ‘Indeed we would be narrated to on authority of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah upon him, at a time when one would not lie upon him, however when the people took the difficult and the docile [Sahīh], we abandoned listening to Ḥadīth from them’.

Muhammad bin Abī Umar al-Makkī narrated to us, Sufyān narrated to us; and Abū Bakr bin Khallād al-Bāhilī narrated to us – and the wording is his, he said, I heard Sufyān bin Uyaynah, on authority of Mis’ar, he said, I heard Sa’d bin Ibrāhīm saying: ‘There is to be no narrating on authority of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah send blessings and peace upon him, except by trustworthy narrators (Thiqāt)’.

Muhammad bin Abd Allah bin Quhzādh from the people of Marw narrated to us, he said I heard Abdān bin Uthmān saying, I heard Abd Allah bin al-Mubārak saying: ‘The chain of narration is from the Dīn, and were it not for the chain of narration whoever wished could say what he wanted’. Muhammad bin Abd Allah said, al-Abbās bin Abī Rizmah narrated to me, he said I heard Abd Allah saying: ‘Between us and the people are ‘the legs’ (meaning the chain of narration, i.e. if a Ḥadīth was like a creature)’. Muhammad said, I heard Abā Ishāq Ibrāhīm bin Īsā at-Tālqānī say, I said to Abd Allah bin al-Mubārak: ‘Oh Abā Abd ir-Rahman! How is the Ḥadīth which goes ‘Indeed from al-Birr after al-Birr is that you pray for your parents after you pray for yourself and you fast for them both after you fast for yourself’? So said: ‘Oh Abā Ishāq! On whose authority is this?’ I said to him: ‘This is a Ḥadīth from Shihāb bin Khirāsh’. said: ‘ trustworthy. On whose authority ?’ I said: ‘on authority of al-Hajjāj bin Dīnār’. said: ‘ trustworthy. On whose authority ?’ I said: ‘He [al-Hajjāj said] the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah upon him, said…’ said: ‘Oh Abā Ishāq! Indeed between al-Hajjāj bin Dīnār and the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah upon him, is a wilderness in which the necks of the mounts are severed, however, there is no difference of opinion regarding charity ’. Muhammad said, I heard Alī bin Shaqīq saying, I heard Abd Allah bin al-Mubārak saying in front of the people: ‘Abandon the Ḥadīth of Amr bin Thābit for indeed he would curse the Salaf [i.e., the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them]’.

Amr bin Alī Abū Hafs narrated to us, he said I heard Yahyā bin Sa’īd, he said: ‘I asked Sufyān ath-Thawrī , Shu’bah, Mālik, and Ibn Uyaynah about a man who is not reliable (Thabt) in Ḥadīth, and someone comes and asks me about him, and they said: ‘Inform against him that he is not reliable’.’

Muhammad bin Abī Attāb narrated to me, he said Affān narrated to me, on authority of Muhammad bin Yahyā bin Sa’īd al-Qattān, on authority of his father, he said: ‘We do not see the righteous more false in anything than they are regarding Ḥadīth’. Ibn Abī Attāb said: ‘So Muhammad bin Yahyā bin Sa’īd al-Qattān and I met and I asked him about it and he said on authority of his father: ‘You will not see the people of good (Ahl ul-Khayr) more false in anything than they are regarding Ḥadīth.’ Muslim said: ‘He was saying that falsehood flows upon their tongues although they do not intend to lie’.

Salamah bin Shabīb narrated to me, al-Humaydī narrated to us, Sufyān narrated to us, he said, I heard a man ask Jābir about the verse: {Thus I will never depart from the land until my father permits me or Allah decides for me, and He is the best of Judges}[Yūsuf: 80]. Jābir said: ‘An interpretation has not come to me about these ’. Sufyān said: ‘He lied’. We said to Sufyān: ‘What did he mean by this?’ [Sufyān] said: ‘Indeed the Rāfiḍah say, ‘Alī is in the clouds and we will not emerge along with he who will emerge from his children until a caller calls from the heaven, meaning Alī: ‘Ride out along with so-and-so ’. Jābir said, ‘that is an interpretation for these verses’, and he would lie as they were regarding the brothers of Yūsuf, peace be upon him’.

Amr bin Alī and Hasan al-Hulwānī narrated to me, both of them on authority of Affān bin Muslim, he said: ‘We were near Ismā’īl bin Ulayyah, and a man narrated on authority of another man, so I said: ‘Indeed this is not reliable (Thabt)’. So the man said: ‘Are you backbiting him?’ Ismā’īl said: ‘He is not backbiting him; rather he is judging him unreliable’.