It is reported from Al-Awzāʿī that he said:

Knowledge is what has come from the Companions of Allah’s Messenger – sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam; and what has not come from them is not knowledge.

Al-Dhahabī , Siyar A’lām Al-Nubalā` in his biography of Al-Awzāʿī. Ibn ‘Asākir, Tārīkh Dimishq Vol.35 p201.