3-229 Abul-Qasim al-Hassan ibn Muhammad al-Sakuni al-Mazaki in Kufa narrated that Muhammad ibn Abdullah al-Hadhrami quoted Muhammad ibn Maquq, on the authority of Hussein, on the authority of Yahya ibn Salma ibn Kuhayl, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Abi al-Zar'ah that Abdullah ibn Mas'ud said:

“The scholars in the world can be divided into three groups: the scholars in the Levant, the scholars in Hejaz, and the scholars in Iraq. The scholar in Syria is Abul Darda. The scholar in Iraq is your brother in Kufa. The scholar in Hejaz is Ali . The scholars in the Levant and Iraq need the scholar in Hejaz, while the scholar in Hejaz doesn’t need them.”