This ḥadith has a sound chain of transmission, yet its wording is objectionable.
And as for ʿAbd Allāh, Ibn Maʿīn declared him reliable, and Muslim narrated from him.
117 – al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf al-Thaqafī *
Allah caused his death in Ramadan of the year 95 AH, while he was still middle-aged.
He was oppressive, tyrannical, openly hostile to the Prophet’s household, vile, and a prodigal shedder of blood. At the same time, he possessed courage, audacity, cunning, shrewdness, eloquence, rhetorical power, and profound reverence for the Qur’an.
In my Large History I have already detailed the depravity of his conduct: his siege of Ibn al-Zubayr at the Kaʿbah, his catapulting of it, his humiliation of the people of the Two Sanctuaries, his two-decade governorship over Iraq and the entire East, the wars Ibn al-Ashʿath fought against him, and his delaying of the prescribed prayers—until Allah uprooted him.
Accordingly, we revile him and do not love him; rather, we hate him for Allah’s sake, and that is one of the firmest bonds of faith.
He does have good deeds drowned in the sea of his sins, and his affair rests with Allah. In general he affirmed monotheism, and he has many counterparts among the oppressive tyrants and rulers.
118
– Abū Burdah (1) ibn Abī Mūsā al-Ashʿarī, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Qays** (ʿ)
the Imām, the jurist, the reliable authority—named Ḥārith, though it is also said: