Yahya ibn Ma'in was born in 158 (A.H.) during the caliphate of Abu Ja‘far al-Mansur to Nabataean ancestry from Al-Anbar and was raised in Baghdad.
[10] Yahya sought knowledge by means of various journeys which he made so rigorously that after the passing of his father, he spent all of his 1,050,000 inherited dirhams on seeking ḥadīth to the extent that nothing remained - not even enough to purchase a pair of shoes.
[11] His journey of seeking knowledge of hadith and Islamic rulings caused him to travel to Basrah, Bagdād, Harān, Dimasq, al-Rasāfah, al-Ray, Sanʿā’, Kufā, Egypt and Mecca.
[15] Of the books available today are; Ma’rifatul al-Rijāl,[16] Yaḥyā bin Maʿīn wa Kitābuhu ‘l-Tārīkh and a small treatise titled ‘Min Kalām Abī Zakariyyā Yaḥyā bin Maʿīn fi ‘l-Rijāl’.
However, there are reports he repented to him personally at the end of his life, with Ibn Hanbal forgiving him and returning to speaking terms with him.