Abu Dawud transmitted the report to me only in its mawquf form and rejected it in the strongest terms.
Abu’l-Fath al-Azdi said: “Muhammad ibn Jaʿfar al-Mutayri narrated to us; ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Dawraqi narrated to us: We were with Ibn Maʿin when Bundar was mentioned. I noticed that Yahya gave him no regard and considered him weak, and that al-Qawariri was displeased with him, saying, ‘He used to run a bathhouse.’ (1)
“Later Abu’l-Fath remarked: ‘People wrote down hadith from Bundar and accepted him. The comments of Yahya and al-Qawariri do not impair his standing. I have never heard anyone mention him except with praise for his truthfulness.’ (2)
ʿAbd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Sayyar said: ‘Bundar and Abu Musa are both reliable, but Abu Musa’s position is stronger, because he would read only from his own notebook, whereas Bundar would read from any notebook, having memorised his hadith.’ (3)
Muhammad ibn al-Musayyab related: ‘When Bundar died, a man came and said, “Abu Musa, rejoice—Bundar has passed away.” He replied, “You bring me congratulations on his death?! I now owe thirty—”
= Ibn Saʿid said: ʿAbd al-Rahman related to us, from Abu Bakr ibn ʿAyyash, from ʿAsim, from Zur, from ʿAbd Allah who said: “Take the pre-dawn meal (suḥur).”
ʿUbayd Allah remarked: “I do not know the exact wording.”
I add: The text of the hadith is sound. It is recorded by al-Bukhari 4/120, Muslim (1095), al-Nasai 4/141, and al-Tirmidhi (708) through the narration of Anas ibn Malik; by al-Nasai 4/141, 145, 146 through Abu Hurayrah, ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Harith, and al-Miqdam ibn Maʿdikarib; by Abu Dawud (2344) and al-Nasai 4/145 through al-ʿIrbad ibn Sariyah; and by Ahmad through Abu Saʿid al-Khudri.
It is most likely that Ibn al-Madini used the word kadhib (lying) here to mean “mistake.” The people of the Hijaz employ it with this sense, as Ibn Hibban observed, and there are many examples.
(1) Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Tarikh Baghdad, 2/103. The author adds in his Mizan: “I say: all the compilers of the Sahih collections relied on him; he is unquestionably an authoritative narrator.”
(2) Tarikh Baghdad, 2/103.
(3) Tarikh Baghdad, 2/104, where it is stated: Ibn Rashiq said, “He is salih (acceptable),” and al-Khusayb said, “There is nothing wrong with him.”