the ḥadith on the superiority of ʿAlī (1)—though he himself is in no way at fault for it.
Al-Nasāʾī and al-Dāraquṭnī said, “There is nothing objectionable about him.”
Abū Ḥātim and Ṣāliḥ ibn Muḥammad stated, “He is truthful.” (2)
Ibn ʿAdī remarked, “This Abū al-Azhar wrote down a great many ḥadiths, and whoever records abundantly is bound to have one, two, or even ten reports in which something is denounced.”
I heard Abū Ḥāmid ibn al-Sharqī say: Someone asked me, ‘Why have you not journeyed to Iraq?’ I replied, ‘And what would I do in Iraq when we already possess three rarities (3) of ḥadith here: al-Dhuhlī, Abū al-Azhar, and Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf al-Sulamī (4)?’
Ibn al-Sharqī also said, “I heard Abū al-Azhar say, ‘Yaḥyā ibn Yaḥyā has written from me.’”
And Makkī ibn ʿAbdān said, “I asked Muslim about Abū al-Azhar, and he replied, ‘Write from him.’”
(1) Mughlatay states in al-Ikmal, fol. 6: In al-Irshad by al-Khalili it is reported that, when Yahya ibn Main heard him transmit the hadith “You are the master,” he exclaimed, “You have brought a calamity!” He replied, “Abd al-Razzaq narrated it to me….” Al-Khalili comments: “This does not discredit Abu al-Azhar,” meaning that his transmission of this hadith is not a blemish. In the author’s Mizan (1/82) it is recorded that Muhammad ibn Hamdun al-Naysaburi related this hadith from Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Sufyan al-Najjar, from Abd al-Razzaq; thus Abu al-Azhar is cleared of responsibility. Under the biography of Abd al-Razzaq (2/610), Ibn Adi is quoted as saying: “He reported a number of hadiths on virtues in which no one concurred with him.” The author will shortly reproduce the exact wording of the hadith with its full chain.
(2) al-Jarh wa-l-Tadil, 2/41.
(3) Al-banadira (plural of bandar) here means “critic,” as al-Mizzi notes in the margin of his Tahdhib. The word is not Arabic in origin. The nisba originally applied to someone who dealt in large quantities of merchandise, buying from those poorer or of lower status, and then reselling what he had purchased to others.
(4) Tarikh Baghdad, 4/42; its continuation is found there as well. See also Tahdhib al-Kamal, pp. 258–259.