He was born during the reign of al-Walid—or slightly before.

He transmitted hadith from al-Qasim Abū ʿAbd al-Rahman, Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir, Yahya ibn Yahya al-Ghassani, al-ʿAlaʾ ibn al-Harith, Abū Wahb ʿUbayd Allah al-Kalaʿi, Nasr ibn ʿAlqamah, Hisham ibn ʿUrwah, al-Aʿmash, and a number of others.

He even went so far as to relate narrations from al-Awzaʿi.

He ranked among the leading scholars.

Those who reported from him include his companion Saʿid ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAziz, al-Walid ibn Muslim, Wakīʿ al-Firyabi, ʿAli ibn ʿAyyash, Yahya al-Bāblutti, ʿAbd Allah ibn Yazid al-Qariʾ, and many others.

Ibn ʿAsakir erred when he listed Musa ibn ʿAmir al-Murri among those who narrated from him, for al-Walid stands between them.

It has also been said that his kunya was Abū Muhammad.

Al-Daraqutni judged him “weak.”

Muslim gave him the kunya Abū Muʿawiyah and said, “His hadith are objectionable (munkar).”

Abu Hatim said: “I examined the works of Ṣadaqah al-Samīn that were in the possession of ʿAbd Allah ibn Yazid ibn Rashid al-Muqriʾ (1) and asked Duḥaym about him. He replied, ‘In principle he is truthful, except that he was tainted with Qadari views. He read to us from the books of Ibn Jurayj and Ibn Abi ʿArubah, and he wrote down from al-Awzaʿi one thousand five hundred hadith.’ (2)”

ʿAmr ibn ʿAbd al-Wahid related: “Ṣadaqah ibn ʿAbd Allah narrated to us, saying, ‘I came to Kufa and visited al-Aʿmash. I found him a burly, unapproachable man, so I began to act rough with him…’”