in Ṣafar, a few days into the month, 219 AH, and he passed away several days later. (1)
I say: Any change that shows up during a person’s final illness does not damage his standing as a trustworthy narrator. Most people experience something of that sort in acute sickness, and at the death-rattle and just before it their state is often even more severe. What must be feared is that confusion might overtake a reliable transmitter, so that he narrates while confused and thereby disarranges either the chain or the wording of a report, ending up at odds with the established version.
As for the claim that he died “a few days into 219 AH,” this is a mistake, for the very same account states explicitly that it took place in 220 AH, and that is the correct date. ʿAffān died only moments before Abū Dāwūd could meet him; Abū Dāwūd did not arrive in Baghdad until 220 AH, and he said, “I attended ʿAffān’s funeral.”
Al-Bukhārī said: “ʿAffān died in Rabīʿ al-Ākhir, 220 AH, or just before that.” (2)
Muṭayyīn and Ibn Saʿd said: “He died in 220 AH.” (3)
I say: He lived eighty-five years—may Allah have mercy on him.
Shaykh al-Islām Shams al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī ʿUmar informed us, in a group, with authorisation. They said: Abū Ḥafṣ ʿUmar ibn Muḥammad al-Muʾaddib informed us; Abū al-Qāsim Hibat Allah ibn Muḥammad al-Shaybānī informed us; Abū Ṭālib Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Bazzāz informed us; Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Shāfiʿī informed us; Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad narrated to us