Ḥammād ibn Salamah and Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah.
He immersed himself in speculative theology until it overwhelmed him; he cast off scrupulousness and piety, openly declared that the Quran was created and urged others to adopt this view, so that he became the very eye of the Jahmiyyah in his age and their foremost scholar. The scholars detested him, and a number of them pronounced him an unbeliever. He never met Jahm ibn Ṣafwān; rather, he picked up Jahm’s doctrines from Jahm’s followers.

Al-Buwayṭī said: I heard al-Shāfiʿī say, “I debated with al-Marīsī, and he said, ‘Drawing lots is gambling.’ So I cited to him the hadith of ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn concerning drawing lots (1), and then I reported his statement to the judge Abū al-Bakhtarī, who said, ‘Produce one more witness and I will crucify him.’ (2)

Abū al-Naḍr Hāshim ibn al-Qāsim said: Bishr’s father was a Jew who worked as a fuller and dyer in Sūwayqah Naṣr. (3)

Al-Marīsī authored numerous works. Ibn al-Nadīm mentioned him and praised him at length, saying, “He was devout, abstemious, and a speculative theologian.” He then related that al-Balkhī said: “His scrupulousness reached the point that he would not approach his wife at night for fear…”