Aḥmad said, “His narrations are acceptable; he is trustworthy, and he hardly ever says, ‘he narrated to us’—meaning that he usually relates by ʿanʿanah.”

Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn said, “People used to caution against the ḥadīth of three men: Fulaīḥ (1), Muḥammad ibn Ṭalḥah, and Ayyūb ibn ʿUtbah (2).”

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad transmitted this from his father and added, “I asked him, ‘From whom did you hear that?’ He answered, ‘From Abū Kāmil Muẓaffar ibn Mudrik.’”

He (ʿAbd Allāh) also said, “I heard Abū Kāmil speaking about Muḥammad ibn Ṭalḥah and remarking, ‘I remember my father only as though in a dream.’”

Muḥammad ibn ʿUthmān ibn Abī Shaybah reported from Ibn Maʿīn that “he is sound in ḥadīth,” whereas ʿAbbās narrated from Yaḥyā [ibn Maʿīn] that “he is of no account.”

I (the author) say: He died in 167 AH.

His traditions fall in the lowest tier of the ṣaḥīḥ category yet count among the finest of the ḥasan grade. From this it becomes clear that the two Ṣaḥīḥs contain reports that are ṣaḥīḥ along with others that are even more rigorously authentic. If you prefer, you may phrase it thus: within them are ṣaḥīḥ reports about which there is no dispute, and ṣaḥīḥ reports that are classed as ḥasan. Hence you see that ḥasan is a subdivision of ṣaḥīḥ, and Prophetic ḥadīth is of only two kinds: ṣaḥīḥ—which itself has levels—and ḍaʿīf—which likewise has levels. Allah knows best.

123 – ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar ibn Ḥafṣ ibn ʿĀṣim al-ʿAdawī (recorded in the Four Sunan and by Muslim, but only as a corroborating narrator), a descendant of the Commander of the Believers ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb and a noted traditionist,