He then said, “ʿĀrim’s memory became muddled in the latter part of his life and his mind left him. Whoever heard from him before this confusion, his transmission is sound.

I myself wrote down hadith from him in the year 214 AH, and I never heard from him after he became confused. Therefore, anyone who heard from him before 220 AH, his transmission is good.

He added, ‘Abū Zurʿah met him in 222 AH.’ (1)

Abū Ḥātim was asked about ʿĀrim and replied, ‘Reliable.’ (2)

Al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Dharrāʿ narrated from Abū Dāwūd: ‘News reached us that ʿĀrim was disapproved of in 213 AH, then his mind returned to him, but confusion took firm hold of him in 216 AH.’ (3)

ʿĀrim died in 224 AH, in the month of Ṣafar.

Abū ʿUbayd, citing Abū Dāwūd, said: ‘I was with ʿĀrim when he narrated from Ḥammād, from Hishām, from his father, that Maʿiz asked the Prophet ﷺ about fasting while travelling. I said to him, “It is Ḥamzah al-Aslamī, not Maʿiz.” He replied, “My boy, Maʿiz is one whose companion will never be distressed.”’

That is, ʿĀrim said this after his reason had gone. (4)

I say: al-Dāraqutnī has set our minds at ease regarding ʿĀrim, for he said, ‘He changed toward the end, yet no objectionable report has surfaced from him after his confusion, and he is reliable.’

So consider the words of the ‘Commander of the Faithful in ḥadīth,’ Abū al-Ḥasan—how different they are from the remark of that paltry, self-important Abu Ḥātim ibn Ḥibbān concerning ʿĀrim, when he said, ‘His mind became…’