Al-Zubayr ibn Bakkār said: He was the maternal half-brother of ʿUrwah ibn Uthāthah, who himself was among those that emigrated to Abyssinia.
Abū Bakr ibn al-Barqī remarked: ʿAmr was short of stature and used to dye his hair black.
He embraced Islam in the eighth year AH, before the Conquest. It is also said that he, Khālid, and Ibn Ṭalḥah arrived at the very beginning of Ṣafar that same year.
Al-Bukhārī records that the Prophet ﷺ appointed him commander of the expedition of Dhāt al-Salāsil.
He settled first in Madinah, then took up residence in Egypt, where he eventually died.
Muhammad ibn ʿAmr transmitted—through Abū Salamah—from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Prophet ﷺ declared, “The two sons of al-ʿĀṣ are believers: ʿAmr and Hishām.” (1)
ʿAbd al-Jabbār ibn al-Ward narrated—from Ibn Abī Mulaykah—that Ṭalḥah said: “Shall I not relate to you something from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ? I heard him say, ‘ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ is among the righteous of Quraysh; what an excellent household—Abū ʿAbd Allah, Umm ʿAbd Allah, and ʿAbd Allah.’ ” (2)
Al-Thawrī reported on the authority of Ibrāhīm ibn Muhājir, from Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī, who said: He conferred—
(1) Its isnad is hasan (sound). It was recorded by Ahmad, 2/304, 327, 353; Ibn Saʿd, 4/191; al-Hakim, 3/240, 452; and Ibn ʿAsakir, 13/252 A, through several chains from Hammad b. Salamah, from Muhammad b. ʿAmr, from Abu Salamah, from Abu Hurayrah.
Ibn Saʿd (4/192) transmits a supporting narration from ʿAmr b. Hakam, from Shuʿbah, from ʿAmr b. Dinar, from Abu Bakr b. Muhammad b. ʿAmr b. Hazm, from his uncle. This isnad is hasan for corroboration, for the report of ʿAmr b. Hakam, though weak on its own, is accepted as supporting evidence.
(2) Ahmad (1/161) also relates it through Wakiʿ: “Nafiʿ b. ʿUmar and ʿAbd al-Jabbar b. al-Ward narrated to us,” with the same chain. All its transmitters are trustworthy, but the isnad is broken, because Ibn Abi Mulaykah—ʿAbd Allah b. ʿUbayd Allah b. ʿAbd Allah—did not meet Talhah: Talhah was killed on the Day of the Camel in 36 AH, whereas Ibn Abi Mulaykah died in 117 AH—an 81-year gap.
Al-Tirmidhi (no. 3845) records a shortened version: “ʿAmr b. al-ʿAs is one of the righteous men of Quraysh,” and comments: “We know this hadith only through the narration of Nafiʿ b. ʿUmar al-Jumahi; Nafiʿ is reliable, yet the isnad is not connected, for Ibn Abi Mulaykah did not meet Talhah.” The report is also found in Ibn ʿAsakir’s Tarikh, 13/253 A, and the author will mention it again in the biography of Talhah’s son ʿAbd Allah.