there." He was born in the year ٩٥ A.H. (٧١٣ c.E.) and died in ١٩٣ or ١٩٤ A.H. (٨٠٨ or
٨٠٩ C.E.).٢٢
AbdAllah b. Al)mad [b. I:Ianbal] reported, on the authority of his father, that "he [Abu Bakr] was reliable, though sometimes inaccurate." Uthman al-Darimiregarded him as weak in the transmission of traditions. Ibn Abi I:Iatim reported that he asked his father about AbU Bakr b. Ayyash and Abu al-AI)wa.
bate either of the two." However, according to Ibn Sad, "He was reliable, honest,
knowledgeable. about the tradition and juridical decision (ilm), but committed many errors." Yaqub b. Shayba said, "His transmission of the tradition contained some confusion." Abu Nuaym declared that "there was none among our teachers who committed more errors than him." According to al-Bazzar, "Abu Bakr did not memo‌ rize the tradition proper١y."٢٣

Abo Amr ai-Ba?ri

His full name was Zuban b. al-Ala b. Ammar al-Mazini al-Ba ri.It
was from Fars. He accompanied his father when the latter fled from al-I:Jajjaj, and he studied the reading of the Quran ih Mekka and Medina. He also studied it in Kufa and Basra with a number of people. Indeed, none among the seven readers [of the Quran] had as many teachers as he [had]. The people of Syria used to follow the reading of Ibn Amir and abandoned it only toward the end of the [eighth] century. This was because a person who came from Iraq instructed the people in the Umayyad Mosque according to the reading of Abu Amr. This reading became well known through him in Syria. Al-AsmaI s ys,
anyone before me more learned than myself."٢٤ He was born in ٦٨ A.H. (٦٨٧ c.E.)
and, as reported by many, died in the year ١٥٤ A.H. (٧٧٠ c.E.).
Al-Duri reports, on the authority of Ibn MuIn, that he [Abu Amr] was regarded as trustworthy. On the other hand, Abu Khaythama has reported that "there is no objection to Abu Amr b. Ala except that he did not memorize the traditions." Na r b. Ali al-Jahqami reports that his father said, "I was told by Shuba: Pay close atten‌ tion to what Abu Amr reads; and whatever he chooses for himself, write it down, hecause he is going to become a master [in this matter] for the people." In his book al-TahdhTb, AbU Muawiya al-Azhari says that Abu Arnr was among the most learned of the people about the variant readings and Arabic terminology, and the rare as‌ pects of their speech, and their most eloquent poetry.٢٥ Abu Amrs readings were transmitted by two transmitters, who learned it from Yal)ya b. al-Mubarak al-Yazidi. These were al-Duri and al-Susi.
As for Yal)ya b. al-Mubarak, Ibn al-Jazari reports that "he was a grammarian, a teacher of the Quran, reliable, and highly educated." He settled in Baghdad and became known as al-Yazidi because of his connection with Yazid b. Man ur I:amyari, the maternal uncle of the [Abbasid caliph] al-Mahdi, the education of whose children he undertook. He acquired his reading by presenting it for critical approval to Abu Arnr, who, in tum, deputized him to teach it. He also studied with I:Iamza [another reader]. AbU Arnr al-Duri and AbU Shuayb al-Susi transmitted the reading on his [al-Yazidis] authority. He held certain opinions [based on his own judgment]