—three: Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Sulayman ibn Dawud al-Hashimi, and Muhammad ibn Abd Allah al-Ansari.
Al-Nasa’i said: “There is nothing objectionable about him.”
As for Abu Dawud, he remarked: “His state altered drastically.”
Zakariyya al-Saji observed: “He was a dignified, learned man; yet in their estimation he was not one of the cavaliers of hadith like Yahya al-Qattan and the rest of that rank—opinion held sway over him. (1)”
Ibn Maʿin is reported to have said: “The judgeship would have suited him.”
Someone asked, “Abu Zakariyya, what about hadith?”
He replied:
Indeed, for battle are men who were fashioned for war,
And for the offices are clerks and accountants. (2)
Abu Khaythamah said: “Yahya ibn Saʿid rejected the report transmitted by al-Ansari, from Habib ibn al-Shahid, from Maymun, from Ibn Abbas: ‘The Prophet ﷺ underwent cupping while he was in ihram and fasting.’ (3)”
It was also said that al-Ansari erred in this narration; it was related by Sufyan ibn
(1) Tarikh Baghdad, vol. 5, pp. 410–411.
(2) Cited by Ibn Adi in al-Kamil, fol. 235; also in Tarikh Baghdad, vol. 5, p. 411.
(3) Sunan al-Tirmidhi, no. 776, Book of Fasting – “Chapter on the concession allowing cupping for the fasting person.” The isnad passes through Abu Musa from Muhammad b. Abd Allah al-Ansari, but omits the word “muḥrim” (in a state of pilgrimage). Al-Tirmidhi comments: “This is a hasan gharib hadith through this route.” According to al-Ayni in al-Umdah, al-Nasa i transmits it with Tirmidhi’s complete chain and remarks: “This hadith is munkar; I know of no one who related it from Habib except al-Ansari—perhaps he meant that the Prophet married Maymunah.” Al-Bukhari records the report (4/155, Book of Fasting, “Chapter on cupping and vomiting for the fasting person”) through Mualla b. Asad—Wuhayb—Ayyub—Ikrima—from Ibn Abbas: “The Prophet was cupped while he was in ihram and while he was fasting.” A parallel transmission by Abd al-Warith from Ayyub is also connected in al-Bukhari (10/125, Book of Medicine) and in Abu Dawud, no. 2372. Al-Hafiz notes that Ibn Ulayya and Maʿmar related it from Ayyub via Ikrima as a mursal report, and that the transmission of Hammad b. Zayd oscillates between connected and mursal—details he has clarified elsewhere…