because had he come right out and said, “The one who declared him reliable is not like the one who criticized him,” he would have hit upon al-Dārimī and Ibn ʿAdī, for they are precisely the two scholars who vouched for him, as has already been noted. So he abandoned that wording and chose this one out of sheer craftiness and deceit, leading the readers to imagine that I alone had praised the man, whereas—in truth, as you have seen—I am merely following earlier authorities while he is the innovator. His phrase “the one who criticized him” refers only to Ibn Maʿīn’s earlier remark, “I do not know him,” which merely indicates that Ibn Maʿīn neither disparaged nor commended him. That is neither censure nor weakening, and in the technical usage of the scholars it cannot be said that someone “spoke against him” for such a reason. Hence the innovator’s earlier claim, “He is weak,” contradicts Ibn Maʿīn’s own words, let alone the statements of those who declared him trustworthy; indeed it conflicts with every judgment rendered by the leading Imams on the matter. Thus the proverb fits him perfectly, as does the saying, “Whoever digs a pit for his brother will fall into it himself.”
I apologise to the esteemed readers for this lengthy discussion and similar digressions, which we could well have dispensed with were it not for the need to rebut the enemies of the authentic Sunnah and expose their falsities and methods of deceit.
As for the other corroborating chain, it comes through Ibrāhīm b. ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd b. Dhī Ḥimāyah, from someone who informed him, from Abū Mālik al-Ashʿarī—or Abū ʿĀmir—who said: “I heard the Prophet ﷺ concerning wine and musical instruments.”
Al-Bukhārī recorded it exactly so in the biographical entry for this Ibrāhīm in al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr (1/1/304–305): “Sulaymān b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān told me, saying: al-Jarrāḥ b. Malīḥ al-Ḥimṣī narrated to us, saying: Ibrāhīm related to us….”
I say: This is a strong corroboration for Mālik b. Abī Maryam and ʿAṭiyyah b. Qays, for he belongs to their generation. And if the unnamed informant is ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Ghanm, then he too follows them, just as