Maʿn and others related that Mālik did not deem ʿIkrimah trustworthy and would instruct people not to take anything from him.

Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn said, “Mālik disliked ʿIkrimah.”

Someone objected, “Yet Mālik transmitted—through another man—from him, did he not?”

He replied, “Only a very small amount.”

Ibn al-Madīnī observed, “Mālik does not name ʿIkrimah in any of his writings except in the report of Thawr—from ʿIkrimah—from Ibn ʿAbbās—about a pilgrim who has intercourse with his wife while in ihrām. He ruled that such a person must fast and offer a sacrificial animal (1). It seems Mālik held that ʿIkrimah inclined toward Khārijite views, so in his books he would refer to him merely as ‘a certain man.’”

Ar-Rabīʿ narrated from al-Shāfiʿī: “Mālik had a poor opinion of ʿIkrimah; he said, ‘I do not consider it permissible for anyone to accept his hadith.’”

Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal remarked, “ʿIkrimah ibn Khālid is more reliable than ʿIkrimah, the freedman of Ibn ʿAbbās. The latter’s narrations are muddled and contradictory, and I do not know what to say about him.”

Qatādah said, “I retained nothing from ʿIkrimah except a single line of poetry, which Ayyūb transmitted from him.” On that basis, any narration of Qatādah from ʿIkrimah would constitute tadlīs.

In Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī there are four hadith of Qatādah from ʿIkrimah: on the takbīrāt of the prayer; that the little finger and thumb are equal; concerning men who imitate women; and regarding the husband of Barīrah (2). Additional reports appear in the Sunan collections.

Aḥmad ibn Abī Khaythamah said, “I found in the book of ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī: ‘I heard…’”