حَدَّثَنَا نَصْرُ بْنُ عَلِيٍّ الْجَهْضَمِيُّ، حَدَّثَنَا الْأَصْمَعِيُّ، عَنِ ابْنِ أَبِي الزِّنَادِ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، قَالَ: «أَدْرَكْتُ بِالْمَدِينَةِ مِائَةً كُلُّهُمْ مَأْمُونٌ، مَا يُؤْخَذُ عَنْهُمُ الْحَدِيثُ، يُقَالُ: لَيْسَ مِنْ أَهْلِهِ».
Translation: Naṣr b. ʿAlī related from al-Aṣmaʿī, Ibn Abī al-Zinād and his father: he met one hundred trustworthy people in Medina whose hadith was nevertheless not taken, for they were considered not sufficiently qualified in that discipline.
Maʾmūn praises personal trustworthiness; “not among its people” concerns suitability for specialized hadith transmission. Declining to use a pious person’s hadith does not entail accusing that person of lying.