Zaid bin Khalid and Abu Huraira

Shu'bah ibn al-Hajjaj was one of the most eminent hadith scholars of Basra and a pioneer in the systematic criticism of hadith narrators (ilm al-rijal). Born around 82 AH in Wasit, he died around 160 AH and devoted his life to verifying the authenticity of prophetic traditions by rigorously scrutinizing the character and reliability of every transmitter. He is often called the Prince of Believers in Hadith (Amir al-Mu'minin fi al-Hadith) — a title normally reserved for the most eminent critics. He is credited as the first scholar to apply systematic criticism to narrators as a scientific discipline, preceding even Yahya ibn Maʿin. He narrated from hundreds of Tabi'in across Iraq, the Hejaz, and Syria, and his seal of approval on a narrator was considered one of the highest marks of reliability in the field. He said: 'A narrator who commits even a single lie in a hadith, I will never again narrate from him.' His own narrations appear in all six major hadith collections and he is cited as an authority both as a narrator and as a critic.