Abu Ishaq say, “Acquire knowledge from ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿUmayr.”
Aḥmad al-ʿIjli said: “He was nicknamed Ibn al-Qibṭah. He served as judge of Kūfah. His reports are sound; he transmitted more than one hundred hadiths and is deemed reliable.”
Ibn Abī Ḥātim said: “Ṣāliḥ ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal narrated to us; ʿAlī narrated to us: ‘I heard ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī say: Sufyān was amazed at ʿAbd al-Malik’s retention.’”
Ṣāliḥ added: “So I asked my father, ‘Is this ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿUmayr?’ He replied, ‘Yes.’”
Ibn Abī Ḥātim continued: “I mentioned this to my own father, who said, ‘That is a mistake; what is meant is ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Abī Sulaymān. ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿUmayr was not characterized by outstanding memorization.’”
Al-Bukhārī said: “ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿUmayr was among the most eloquent of people.”
Ibn ʿUyaynah related: “A man once addressed ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿUmayr as al-Qibṭī. ʿAbd al-Malik replied, ‘As for “ʿAbd al-Malik,” that is I; as for “al-Qibṭī,” it was a race-horse of ours that always won.’”
It is reported from Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh: “I heard ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿUmayr say, ‘This year I have completed one hundred and three years.’”
Abū Bakr ibn Abī al-Aswad transmitted—from Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Bajalī—who said: “ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿUmayr died in 136 AH, or thereabouts.” Another added: “In Dhū al-Ḥijjah of that year.”
Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and others informed us, saying: “Al-Ḥusayn ibn Hibat Allāh al-Taghlibī related to us; Naḍr ibn Aḥmad ibn Muqātil and al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Ḥasan al-Asadī narrated to us; they said: ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī al-ʿAlāʾ al-Maṣṣīṣī, the jurist, informed us; Muḥammad and Aḥmad related to us; al-Ḥasan ibn Sahl ibn al-Ṣabbāḥ narrated to us at Balad in 417 AH; Aḥmad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Aḥmad—the Imām—narrated to us; ʿAlī ibn Ḥarb narrated to us; Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah narrated to us, from ʿAbd al-Malik, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Bakrah, from Abū Bakrah, from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him—