Asim bin Muhammad narrates from his father, who said: I saw Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) come out on Friday, take hold of the two knobs of the pulpit while standing, and say: "Abu al-Qasim, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), the truthful and the one confirmed as truthful, narrated to us." Then he would keep narrating hadith until, when he heard the door of the private chamber being opened for the imam to come out for the prayer, he would sit down. This hadith has an authentic (sahih) chain of narration, but the two Shaykhs (Bukhari and Muslim) did not record it. I have deliberately begun the virtues of Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) with his memorisation of the hadith of the Chosen Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the testimony of the Companions and the Successors to that, because everyone who has sought to memorise hadith, from the beginning of Islam until this age of ours, is his follower, since he was the first of them and the most deserving of the title of memorisation.

It is narrated from Imam Abu Bakr Muhammad bin Ishaq that he mentioned Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) and said: "He was among those of his (peace and blessings be upon him) Companions who narrated abundantly with sound chains, (narrations) which spread among his narrations and the narrations of the other Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)." Abu Bakr said: "And Sayyiduna Abu Ayyub al-Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) also narrated from him, despite his very high rank and the fact that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) stayed with him at the time of the Hijrah."

Ash'ath bin Abi al-Sha'tha' narrates: I heard my father say: "I came to Madinah and saw Sayyiduna Abu Ayyub (may Allah be pleased with him) narrating from Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), so I said: You narrate from Abu Hurayrah when you hold the rank of having been host to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)? He replied: 'Narrating through Abu Hurayrah is dearer to me than narrating directly from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) myself.'" Imam Abu Bakr said: "It was out of Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah's (may Allah be pleased with him) eagerness for knowledge that, for the sake of acquiring knowledge, he would narrate even from those who had narrated fewer hadith from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) than he had; thus he narrated from Sayyiduna Sahl bin Sa'd al-Sa'idi (may Allah be pleased with him) as well."