Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Qattan

Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Qattan was born in Basra in 120 AH/738 CE to descendants of freed slaves from the Banu Tamim tribe. He earned the nisba al-Qattan due to his work in the cotton trade. He travelled extensively to Medina, Baghdad, and Kufa to study hadith, learning from prominent scholars such as Shu'ba ibn al-Hajjaj, Sufyan al-Thawri, Malik ibn Anas, and Ibn Jurayj. Yahya was known for his strict standards in hadith criticism and was critical of mursal hadith and narrators who practiced tadlīs. His students included notable figures like Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Ali ibn al-Madini. He reportedly authored two works, al-Ḍuʿafā and Kitāb al-Maghāzī, which have not survived. He died in Basra in 198 AH/813 CE.