—right to the very last line it says: “Muḥammad ibn Kathīr narrated to us from al-Awzāʿī.” (1)
I (al-Dhahabī) remark: This is a crushing flaw; in any case, his ḥadith are written down, but they are not weighty enough to serve as proof.
He died, may Allah have mercy on him, on the nineteenth of Dhū al-Ḥijjah, 216 AH.
Among the transmitters there is also Muḥammad ibn Kathīr al-Qurashī al-Kūfī (2): a shaykh of lenient standing who narrates from Layth ibn Abī Sulaym and others, though Ibn Maʿīn regarded him as sound (3).
And Muḥammad ibn Kathīr al-Sulamī al-Baṣrī, the butcher (4): he reports from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṭāʾūs and a number of others; the critics deemed him weak.
102 – Muḥammad ibn Kathīr, Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-ʿAbdī* (ʿ)
A ḥadith memorizer, reliable; Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-ʿAbdī, from Basra.
(1) Ibn Abi Hatim, Al-Jarh wa l-Taʿdil, vol. 8, pp. 69-70.
(2) Biographical notice in: Ibn Maʿin, Tarikh Ibn Maʿin, p. 536; al-Bukhari, Al-Tarikh al-Kabir, 1/217; al-ʿUqayli, Al-Duʿafaʾ, fol. 396; Ibn Abi Hatim, Al-Jarh wa l-Taʿdil, 8/68; Ibn Hibban, Al-Majruhin wa l-Duʿafaʾ, 2/287; al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Tarikh Baghdad, 3/191-193; al-Dhahabi, Mizan al-Iʿtidal, 4/17-18; al-Dhahabi, Al-Mughni fi l-Duʿafaʾ, 2/626. He is also mentioned by Ibn Hajar in Tahdhib al-Tahdhib 9/419 and Lisan al-Mizan 5/351-352.
(3) See Ibn Maʿin, Tarikh Ibn Maʿin, p. 536.
(4) Biographical notice in: al-Bukhari, Al-Tarikh al-Kabir, 1/218; al-Bukhari, Al-Duʿafaʾ al-Saghir, p. 105; al-ʿUqayli, Al-Duʿafaʾ, fol. 396; Ibn Abi Hatim, Al-Jarh wa l-Taʿdil, 8/70; Ibn Hibban, Al-Majruhin wa l-Duʿafaʾ, 2/287; al-Dhahabi, Mizan al-Iʿtidal, 4/17; al-Dhahabi, Al-Mughni fi l-Duʿafaʾ, 2/626. Ibn Hajar records him separately in Tahdhib al-Tahdhib 9/419 and Lisan al-Mizan 5/351.
(*) Ibn Saʿd, Al-Tabaqat al-Kubra, 7/305; Khalifa, Al-Tabaqat (1951 ed.), p. 195; al-Bukhari, Al-Tarikh al-Kabir, 1/218; al-Bukhari, Al-Tarikh al-Saghir, 2/349; Ibn Abi Hatim, Al-Jarh wa l-Taʿdil, 8/70; Ibn Mandah, Al-Jamʿ bayna Rijal al-Sahihayn, 2/448; al-Dhahabi, Al-Muʿjam al-Mushtamal, p. 268; al-Mizzi, Tahdhib al-Kamal, fol. 1261; al-Dhahabi, Mizan al-Iʿtidal, 4/18; al-Dhahabi, Al-Kashif, 3/91; al-Dhahabi, Al-ʿIbar, 1/388; al-Dhahabi, Al-Mughni fi l-Duʿafaʾ, 2/627; Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, 9/416; Ibn Hajar, Khulasa Tazhib al-Kamal, p. 357; Ibn al-ʿImad, Shadharat al-Dhahab, 2/52.