—because the leading hadith masters differ about ʿAbd al-Malik.
This is the wording transmitted by Ṣāliḥ ibn Aḥmad from his father.
Abū Ṭālib likewise reported from Aḥmad that he said: “His hadith is inconsistent.”
Aḥmad ibn Saʿd related from Ibn Maʿīn: “Reliable,” while Shuʿbah regarded him as weak.
When he narrated Qurʾanic exegesis he would say, “from ʿIkrimah,” and had I asked him to say, “from Ibn ʿAbbās,” he would have said so.
Yaḥyā then added: “For that reason Shuʿbah would narrate his exegesis only as being from ʿIkrimah—that is, he would not mention Ibn ʿAbbās in it.”
Aḥmad ibn Zuhayr said: “I heard Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn asked about Simak: ‘What was held against him?’ He replied, ‘He ascribed as musnad some reports that no one else did, yet he is reliable.’”
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmmār said: “At times he confused matters, and people disagree about his hadith.”
Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh said: “His narrations are acceptable, except that in what he reports from ʿIkrimah he would sometimes link a statement to Ibn ʿAbbās, and sometimes say, ‘The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said,’ whereas ʿIkrimah was actually narrating from Ibn ʿAbbās.”
Al-Thawrī considered him somewhat weak, yet no one abandoned his narrations altogether. He was knowledgeable in poetry and Arab history and was eloquent.
Abū Ḥātim said: “Truthful, reliable.”
His son said: “So I asked my father, ‘Aḥmad has said that his hadith is sounder than that of ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿUmayr; is that correct?’ He replied, ‘Just as he said.’”
Ibn al-Madīnī said: “His narrations from ʿIkrimah are inconsistent. Shuʿbah and Sufyān treat them as being from ʿIkrimah, whereas others—Abū al-Aḥwaṣ and Isrāʾīl—say: ‘from Ibn ʿAbbās.’”
Zakariyyā ibn ʿAdī reported from Ibn al-Mubārak: “Simak is weak in hadith.”
Yaʿqūb al-Sadosī said: “His narrations specifically from ʿIkrimah are confused, whereas in other than ʿIkrimah he is acceptable. He is not among those who are meticulously precise, but those who heard from him early—such as Shuʿbah and Sufyān—their reports from him are sound and consistent.”
Ṣāliḥ ibn Muḥammad said: “He is considered weak.”
Al-Nasāʾī said: “There is no harm in him, though there is something questionable in his hadith.”
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Khirāsh said: “There is some softness in his hadith.”