‘I asked Mālik bin Anas about Muhammad bin Abd ar-Rahman who transmits on authority of Sa’īd bin al-Musayyib, so he said: ‘He is not trustworthy ‘. I asked him about Sālih, a freed slave of at-Taw’amah, then he said: ‘He is not trustworthy’. I asked him about Abūl-Huwayrith , and he said: ‘He is not trustworthy’. I asked him about Shu’bah on whose authority Ibn Abī Dhi’b transmitted, and he said: ‘He is not trustworthy’. I asked him about Harām bin Uthmān , and he said ‘He is not trustworthy’. I asked Mālik about these five and he said: ‘They are not trustworthy in terms of their Ḥadīth’. I asked him about another man whose name I forget just now, and he said: ‘Did you see him in my book?’ I said: ‘No’. [Then] he said: ‘If he was trustworthy you would see him in my book’.  

لَيْسُوا بِثِقَةٍ فِي حَدِيثِهِمْ وَسَأَلْتُهُ عَنْ رَجُلٍ آخَرَ نَسِيتُ اسْمَهُ فَقَالَ هَلْ رَأَيْتَهُ فِي كُتُبِي قُلْتُ لاَ قَالَ لَوْ كَانَ ثِقَةً لَرَأَيْتَهُ فِي كُتُبِي