‘I asked Sufyān ath-Thawrī , Shu’bah, Mālik, and Ibn Uyaynah about a man who is not reliable (Thabt) in Ḥadīth, and someone comes and asks me about him, and they said: ‘Inform [others] against him that he is not reliable’.’
سَأَلْتُ سُفْيَانَ الثَّوْرِيَّ وَشُعْبَةَ وَمَالِكًا وَابْنَ عُيَيْنَةَ عَنِ الرَّجُلِ لاَ يَكُونُ ثَبْتًا فِي الْحَدِيثِ فَيَأْتِينِي الرَّجُلُ فَيَسْأَلُنِي عَنْهُ قَالُوا أَخْبِرْ عَنْهُ أَنَّهُ لَيْسَ بِثَبْتٍ