Al-Tirmidhī said, “Some scholars have spoken against Abū Maʿshar because of his poor memory.”

Muḥammad said, “I do not transmit anything from him.”

Abū Zurʿah remarked, “He is truthful in ḥadith, yet not strong.”

Muḥammad ibn ʿUthmān ibn Abī Shaybah reported from Ibn al-Madīnī: “He is a shaykh—weak, weak (1). He used to narrate from Muḥammad ibn Qays, and he reported sound narrations from Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb, but his narrations from Nāfiʿ and al-Maqburī are objectionable.”

Al-Fallās said, “He is weak. Whatever he relates from Muḥammad ibn Qays, Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb, and his own shaykhs is acceptable; but whatever he relates from al-Maqburī, Nāfiʿ, Hishām ibn ʿUrwah, and Ibn al-Munkadir is poor and should not be recorded.”

Aḥmad ibn Abī Khaythamah transmitted from Muḥammad ibn Bakkār ibn al-Rayyān, who said: “Before his death Abū Maʿshar’s condition deteriorated severely, to the point that wind would escape from him without his noticing.”

Yaḥyā ibn Bukayr—through Abū Maʿshar—through Saʿīd al-Maqburī—through Abū Hurayrah—reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

“Let me not find one of you reclining so that, when a report of mine reaches him, he says, ‘Recite the Qur’an to me instead.’ Whatever good reaches you attributed to me—whether I actually said it or not—I am indeed the one who said it; and whatever evil reaches you, I do not speak evil.”

This ḥadith is utterly objectionable.

Yet it has a corroborating chain, narrated by Yaḥyā ibn Ādam—from Ibn Abī Dh’īb—from al-Maqburī (2).