Ahmad ibn Hanbal also said, “Weak.”
Al-Nasaʾi and others commented, “He is not strong.”
Abu Hatim declared, “His narrations are not to be relied upon.”
Muʿawiyah ibn Salih reported that Yahya said, “He is nothing.”
Ibn Hibban wrote, “His hadith are objectionable; for that reason his narrations should be avoided.”
Al-Darawardi transmitted from him, from ʿAbd Allah ibn Abi Talhah, from Anas, in a marfuʿ report: “The best gatherings are the roomiest ones.” (1)
Ibn Hibban further stated: “He died in 157 AH, at the age of seventy-three.”
14 – Fitr ibn Khalifah, Abu Bakr al-Makhzumi * (4, Kh, transmitted jointly)
The shaykh, scholar, hadith expert, and truthful narrator, Abu Bakr al-Kufi al-Makhzumi, a client of ʿAmr ibn Hurayth—may Allah be pleased with him—the grain merchant.
(1) Al-Hakim records the narration in Al-Mustadrak, 4/269, and rules it authentic according to Muslim’s criteria; al-Dhahabi, the editor, agrees. Both are in error, for the chain contains Musab b. Thabit, whose reports are weak and whom Muslim does not cite. The hadith is nevertheless sound thanks to a corroborating chain preserved by Ahmad, 3/18 and 69; Abu Dawud, no. 4820; and al-Bukhari in Al-Adab al-Mufrad, through the Companion Abu Said al-Khudri. This isnad is strong. Al-Hakim (4/269) therefore declared it sahih on al-Bukhari’s conditions, and al-Dhahabi endorsed his verdict.
(*) Biographical sources: Ibn Saad, Al-Tabaqat al-Kubra 6/364; Khalifah, Al-Tabaqat 168 and Tarikh 426; al-Bukhari, Al-Tarikh al-Kabir 7/139; Al-Marifah wa-l-Tarikh 2/175, 657, 798; Al-Duafa 357; Ibn Abi Hatim, Al-Jarh wa-l-Tadil 7/90; Ibn Hibban, Mashahir Ulama al-Amsar 168; Ibn Adi, Al-Kamil 678; Al-Mizzi, Tahdhib al-Kamal 1107; Al-Dhahabi, Tadhhib al-Tahdhib 3/144, Tarikh al-Islam 6/268-269, Mizan al-Itidal 3/363-364, Ibar 1/220; Ibn Kathir, Al-Bidayah wa-l-Nihayah 10/111; Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib al-Tahdhib 8/300-302 and Khulasat Tadhhib al-Kamal 311; Ibn al-Imad, Shadharat al-Dhahab 1/135.