such as ʿĪsā ibn Shadhān. Ibn Ḥibbān writes of him in al-Thiqāt: “He is prone to singular narrations.” As for Ibrāhīm ibn Ṭahmān, Ibn ʿAmmār al-Mawṣilī said of him, “Weak in ḥadīth, his reports are confused.” This sweeping verdict—though it must be rejected as an absolute judgment—still hints that something in Ibn Ṭahmān’s transmissions calls for caution, and this is borne out by Ibn Ḥibbān’s words in Thiqāt al-Tābiʿīn wa-Atbāʿ al-Tābiʿīn (2/10):

“His case is ambiguous; he occupies a place among the trustworthy and a place among the weak. He has transmitted sound reports resembling those of the firmly established narrators, yet he has also singled out from trustworthy authorities certain problematic matters. We shall mention him, God willing, in the book al-Faṣl bayna al-Naqala—should Allah, exalted be He, decree it—just as we shall do with everyone whose status we have suspended judgment on even though he has an entry among the trustworthy.”

For this reason al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar said of him in al-Taqrīb: “Reliable, but given to singular narrations.” His own teacher Manṣūr—meaning Ibn al-Muʿtamir—is trustworthy, and Ibn