حَدَّثَنَا إِسْحَاقُ بْنُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ الْحَنْظَلِيُّ، أَخْبَرَنَا عِيسَى، وَهُوَ ابْنُ يُونُسَ، حَدَّثَنَا الْأَوْزَاعِيُّ، عَنْ سُلَيْمَانَ بْنِ مُوسَى، قَالَ: لَقِيتُ طَاوُسًا، فَقُلْتُ: حَدَّثَنِي فُلَانٌ كَيْتَ وَكَيْتَ. قَالَ: «إِنْ كَانَ صَاحِبُكَ مَلِيًّا فَخُذْ عَنْهُ».
Translation: Isḥāq b. Ibrāhīm al-Ḥanẓalī told us: ʿĪsā b. Yūnus informed us: al-Awzāʿī told us, from Sulaymān b. Mūsā, who said: “I met Ṭāwūs and said, ‘So-and-so told me such-and-such.’ He replied, ‘If your informant is reliable and capable, take from him.’”
Malīʾ here does not mean financially wealthy. As al-Nawawī explains, it denotes a sufficiently trustworthy, precise and competent transmitter whose religion and knowledge support reliance on him.