Abū Muṣhir said, “In our city no one had a better memory than he, yet his ḥadith are objectionable.”

Abū Ḥātim remarked, “His basic standing is that of truthfulness.”

I asked Aḥmad ibn Ṣāliḥ, “How has he come to relate so many reports from Qatādah?” He answered, “His father was a business partner of Abū ʿArūbah, so he took his son Saʿīd to Basra, where the boy continued seeking knowledge alongside Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūbah.”

Ibn Saʿd stated, “He was a Qadarī.”

Abū Aḥmad al-Ḥākim said, “He is not strong.”

Baqiyyah reported, “I asked Shuʿbah about Saʿīd ibn Bashīr, and he replied, ‘That man is truthful-tongued.’”

Marwān al-Ṭāṭarī said, “I heard Ibn ʿUyaynah say, ‘Saʿīd ibn Bashīr narrated to us, and he had an excellent memory.’”

Duḥaym observed, “The scholars declare him reliable; he was a ḥāfiẓ.”

As for Ibn Mahdī, he at first transmitted from him and then abandoned him.

Abū Zurʿah said, “He is not to be relied upon as proof, though he is essentially truthful.”

Al-Bukhārī noted, “Criticism is directed at his memory.”

Ibn Maʿīn and al-Nasāʾī both said, “He is weak.”

Abū al-Jamāhir declared, “He was never a Qadarī—God forbid!”

He died in 168 AH, according to Abū al-Jamāhir and Muḥammad ibn Bakkār, while Hishām ibn ʿAmmār placed his death in 169 AH.

98 – Thābit ibn Yazīd, Abū Zayd al-Baṣrī al-Aḥwal * (ʿ)

The ḥāfiẓ, precision-master, and Imām—Abū Zayd al-Baṣrī, al-Aḥwal.