Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal said, “His ḥadith transmission is sound; he is a Shiʿi.”
Abū Dāwūd al-Sijistānī said, “He was a Shiʿi, and a fervent one.”

I say: his fervour was directed against those who fought ʿAlī or disputed his claim to leadership—may Allah be pleased with him—while he nonetheless venerated the two Shaykhs, Abū Bakr and ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with them both. He was among those who read the Qurʾān to Ḥamzah al-Zayyāt, and he lived to meet Manṣūr ibn al-Muʿtamir, visiting him once when he was ill; that was at the very beginning of his quest for knowledge.

Muḥammad ibn Saʿd said, “Some scholars do not accept him as evidence.”⦗1⦘

Abū al-Aḥwaṣ used to say, “I adjure by Allah anyone who sits with Ibn Fuḍayl and ʿAmr ibn Thābit not to sit with us.”

Yaḥyā al-Ḥimmānī said, “I heard Fuḍayl—or I was told on his authority—say, ‘I beat my son from last night until morning, trying to make him invoke mercy for ʿUthmān—may Allah be pleased with him—but he refused.’”

Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿĪsā ibn Māsarjis said, “I asked Ibn al-Mubārak about Asbāṭ and Ibn Fuḍayl. He kept silent, and three days later he said, ‘O Ḥasan! Concerning your two companions⦗2⦘, I do not see that our people are satisfied with them.’”

I say: he died in 195 AH. Others say: in 194 AH.