the hadith concerning the sacrificial animals (1), and the hadith that begins, “He was in retreat when Safiyyah came to him” (2).
I say: We have already mentioned in the biography of Shuʿbah that he once snatched al-Zuhrī’s notebook from Hushaym’s hand and tore it up, because Hushaym had concealed al-Zuhrī’s identity from Shuʿbah. When Shuʿbah saw al-Zuhrī sitting with him, he asked, “Who is this shaykh?” Hushaym replied, “He is a policeman in the service of the Umayyads.” Shuʿbah therefore failed to recognise him and never heard any narrations from him. This was a lapse on the part of both men in their youth. Nevertheless, Hushaym had memorised four hadiths from that very notebook and continued to transmit them.
Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal said: “Of all those who narrate from Ḥuṣayn, none is more sound in his transmission than Hushaym.”
= Sufyan, from Salih ibn Abi al-Akhdar, from al-Zuhri, from Saʿid, from Abu Hurayrah: the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, "forbade the sale of al-malaqih and al-mudamin." Salih ibn Abi al-Akhdar is considered weak.
Malik reports in the Muwatta 2/654, from al-Zuhri, from Saʿid ibn al-Musayyab: the Prophet forbade, with respect to livestock, al-mudamin, al-malaqih, and habal al-habla. Al-mudamin is the sale of what is in the wombs of female camels, while al-malaqih is the sale of what is in the loins (semen) of stud camels.
(1) Al-Tabari, Tafsir 2/216: Abu Kurayb and Yaʿqub ibn Ibrahim both related to us, saying, "Hishim narrated to us." Al-Zuhri informed us that, when asked about God’s words, "fama istaysara mina al-hady" (Quran 2:196: “whatever sacrificial animal may be obtained with ease”), he said: Ibn ʿAbbas used to say, "It means sheep."
(2) Reported by al-Bukhari 4/240, 10/493, 13/142 and by Muslim (2175) from al-Zuhri, via ʿAli ibn al-Husayn, from Safiyyah bint Huyayy: “While the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, was observing iʿtikaf, I came to visit him at night and spoke with him. When I rose to leave, he rose with me to escort me. My lodging was in the house of Usama ibn Zayd. Two men of the Ansar passed by; when they saw us they quickened their pace. The Prophet said, ‘Subhan Allah! This is the Messenger of Allah.’ Then he added, ‘Shaytan flows through the human being like blood, and I feared he might cast evil—or, he said, something—into your hearts.’”
The phrase li-yuqallibani means “to accompany me back to my dwelling.”
Al-Hafiz (13/142) notes that Saʿid ibn Mansur transmitted the same report in his Sunan from … ? … via al-Zuhri.
Al-Hafiz writes in the introduction to Fath al-Bari, p. 449: “Hishim ibn Bashir al-Wasiti is one of the imams unanimously regarded as reliable, yet he was famous for tadlis (concealing a narrator). His transmissions from al-Zuhri are considered weak. Concerning his tadlis, several leading scholars have stated that al-Bukhari cites him only when he explicitly says, ‘he narrated to us (haddathana).’ I have examined his narrations and found this to be the case: either he makes the statement within the chain itself, or it is confirmed by another chain. As for his reports from al-Zuhri, none of them appear in the two Sahihs.”