his narrations in his later years.
Aḥmad then said: “He reports objectionable narrations from Nāfiʿ.
He also remarked: ‘If you examine(1) his narrations closely, you will notice unfamiliar elements in them.’
It is related from Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn that he rated him reliable.
Another report from him says, ‘His narrations were abandoned in later times,’ but this is a mistake; that verdict actually comes from Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd regarding him.
ʿAbbās transmitted from Yaḥyā that he said, ‘Reliable.’
Aḥmad ibn Abī Maryam likewise narrated from Yaḥyā that he said, ‘Reliable, an authority.’ Hence Ibn Maʿīn held a favorable view of Usāmah.
Abū Ḥātim said, ‘His narrations are written down, yet they are not cited as proof.’
I say: He died in 153 AH, and his narrations can sometimes rise to the level of fair (ḥasan). Al-Bukhārī used him for corroboration, and Muslim recorded his reports only in supporting chains.
As for Usāmah ibn Zayd ibn Aslam al-ʿUmari, the Madinan, his weakness is even greater, and he has nothing in the books except a single hadith recorded by Ibn Mājah.
= The proof for this is the chain transmitted by Ibn Shihab, from Isa b. Talhah, from Abd Allah b. Amr b. al-As: “The Messenger of Allah stood before the people at Mina while they were consulting him. A man came and said, ‘Messenger of Allah, I was unaware and I shaved before slaughtering.’ The Prophet replied, ‘Slaughter, and there is no sin upon you.’ Then another man said, ‘Messenger of Allah, I was unaware and I slaughtered before pelting (the Jamarat).’ He answered, ‘Pelt, and there is no sin upon you.’ The Prophet was not asked about anything that had been done earlier or later than its prescribed order except that he said, ‘Do it, and there is no sin upon you.’
Al-Khattabi reports in Maalim al-Sunan 2/432 that Ahmad and Ishaq held that whoever does this out of forgetfulness incurs no penalty, for they regard the ruling as different for one who acts deliberately. Ahmad’s stance is supported by the words in the hadith: “I was unaware and I shaved.”
Ibn Qudamah states in al-Mughni 3/474: “Al-Athram said: I heard Abu Abd Allah (Ahmad) asked about a man who shaved before slaughtering. He said, ‘If he was ignorant, nothing is due; but if he did it intentionally, a penalty is incurred,’ because the Prophet—peace be upon him—was asked by a man who said, ‘I was unaware.’”
Ibn Daqiq al-Id, in his commentary on Umdat al-Ahkam 3/79, adds: “Ahmad’s view is strong, for the evidence establishes that the rites of pilgrimage must follow the Messenger’s practice—‘Take your rites from me.’ The hadiths permitting the reversal of the order are all linked to the statement of the questioner, ‘I was unaware’; hence the dispensation is confined to that circumstance, while deliberate transgression remains subject to the original obligation of adhering to the prescribed sequence.”
(1) The person addressed here is Abd Allah b. Ahmad b. Hanbal; see al-Mizan and Tahdhib al-Tahdhib.