Ka'b bin Malik

Humaid al-Tawil ibn Abi Humaid al-Basri was a prominent Tabi'i hadith scholar of Basra. He was a freed slave (mawla) of Talha ibn Ubaydullah and was given the epithet 'al-Tawil' (the Tall) to distinguish him from others bearing the same name. He had extended and direct access to Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) for many years, having spent time in his company and narrated extensively from him. This proximity made him one of the most important transmitters of Anas's vast hadith corpus, and his narrations from Anas appear with great frequency in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. Imam al-Bukhari alone includes many chains going through Humaid on the authority of Anas, which scholars of rijal (narrator criticism) recognized as representing accurate and well-preserved transmission. He also narrated from other Tabi'in scholars of Basra. He was considered reliable (thiqa) by the major hadith critics including Yahya ibn Ma'in, Ali ibn al-Madini, and Ahmad ibn Hanbal. He passed away around 142–143 AH and is counted among the essential links in Basran hadith transmission.