“…‘Yahyā ibn Saʿīd reported that Abū Qatādah al-Anṣārī said …,’ and he set the ḥadīth out in full.
In this wording he drops Muḥammad ibn al-Munkadir between Yahyā and Abū Qatādah, so the chain is broken, for Yahyā ibn Saʿīd—namely, the Madinan Yahyā ibn Saʿīd ibn Qays al-Anṣārī—never met Abū Qatādah. Hence al-Suyūṭī remarked in Tanwīr al-Ḥawālik, ‘Its chain is broken. Al-Bazzār also brought it by way of ʿUmar ibn ʿAlī al-Muqaddamī, from Yahyā ibn Saʿīd, from Muḥammad ibn al-Munkadir, from Jābir.’
I say: This differs from al-Nasāʾī’s version, for his report is from Abū Qatādah, whereas this one is from Jābir—yet another inconsistency in its isnād.
I have, however, come across an additional route for the report, both from Abū Qatādah and from Jābir.
- The route through Abū Qatādah: Al-Ṭabarānī narrates in al-Awsat, no. 4090: ‘ʿAlī ibn Saʿīd al-Rāzī told us: Sulaymān ibn ʿUmar ibn Khālid al-Raqī related to us: Yahyā ibn Saʿīd al-Umawī related to us, from Ibn Jurayj, from ʿAṭāʾ, from Abū Qatādah, from the Prophet ﷺ, who said: “Whoever keeps his hair should treat it well, or else shave it off.” Abū Qatādah used to comb his hair every other day.’
Al-Ṭabarānī then observes: ‘No one has transmitted this from Ibn Jurayj except Yahyā ibn Saʿīd al-Umawī.’
I say: He is trustworthy and appears in both Ṣaḥīḥs, as do all the transmitters above him, so the discussion concerns those below him. Al-Haythamī comments in Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid, 5/164: ‘Al-Ṭabarānī related it in al-Awsat through his shaykh ʿAlī ibn Saʿīd al-Rāzī. Al-Dāraqutnī said: “He is not strong,” while the rest of the chain consists of the men of the Ṣaḥīḥ.’
So he states—yet Sulaymān ibn ʿUmar and his father are found neither among the transmitters of the Ṣaḥīḥ nor even among the transmitters