Al-Aswad

Al-Aswad ibn Yazid al-Nakha'i al-Kufi was a prominent Tabi'i scholar of Kufa and a leading student of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (RA). He was the nephew of the companion Alqama ibn Qais al-Nakha'i and grew up in the main intellectual circle of Kufa. He also traveled to Medina to narrate directly from Aisha (RA), who held him in high regard and called him 'my son.' He was known for his extraordinary asceticism: he fasted very frequently, stood in prayer most of the night, and performed Hajj and Umra eighty times. Despite this demanding spiritual practice he maintained impeccable reliability in hadith transmission. He is regarded as fully trustworthy (thiqah thiqah) by all major hadith critics. His narrations appear throughout the major collections. He passed away in Kufa around 74–75 AH.