ibn Ṣāliḥ, and he sat with al-Layth and narrated to him. Al-Layth then said, “ʿAbd Allāh, go to the shaykh and write down whatever he dictates to you.” So I went to him, and he would dictate it to me. Afterward we would return to al-Layth and read it back to him, so I heard it from Muʿāwiyah ibn Ṣāliḥ twice.

Ibn ʿAdī said: I was informed by Ḥumayd ibn Zanjawayh who related that I said to ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī, “You search for rare reports; go to ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ, copy the notebook of Muʿāwiyah ibn Ṣāliḥ, and you will obtain two hundred hadiths.”

Yaʿqūb ibn Shaybah said: Some maintain that Muʿāwiyah ibn Ṣāliḥ occupies a middle rank—neither firmly reliable nor weak—while others deem him weak.

Ibn Khirāsh said: “He is truthful.”

Al-Layth ibn ʿAbdah reported that Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn said: Whenever ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī narrated a hadith of Muʿāwiyah ibn Ṣāliḥ, Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd would rebuke him (1) and say, “What are these hadiths?”

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān was not particular about from whom he narrated, whereas Yaḥyā was trustworthy in his transmission.

Ibn ʿAdī also said: Ibn Wahb possesses a book by Muʿāwiyah ibn Ṣāliḥ, Abū Ṣāliḥ has another from him, and Ibn Mahdī and Maʿn hold several of his narrations. Those who transmitted from him include al-Layth, Bishr ibn al-Sarī, and other reliable scholars. I see nothing objectionable in his hadith; in my view he is truthful, though his work does contain some singular reports.

Ibn Ḥibbān listed him in his book al-Thiqāt (The Reliable Narrators).

Abū Saʿīd ibn Yūnus said: Muʿāwiyah arrived in Egypt and then travelled to al-Andalus. When ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muʿāwiyah ibn Hishām entered al-Andalus and assumed power, Muʿāwiyah attached himself to him. The ruler dispatched him to Syria on certain matters, and when he returned from Syria he appointed him chief judge of the community in al-Andalus… until he said: “He died in 158 AH; that was related to me by…”