Section

Such, then, is what those imams have said about this ḥadith.

As for their remarks concerning Sufyān ibn Ḥusayn, (1) the only transmitter of the report, Imām Aḥmad—as quoted by al-Marwudhī—said: “He does not amount to much in his narrations from al-Zuhrī.”

Yahyā ibn Maʿīn, in the version preserved by ʿAbbās al-Dūrī, declared: “There is no harm in him, yet he is not among al-Zuhrī’s leading disciples, and his narrations from al-Zuhrī are weak.”

There is no contradiction between his saying, “There is no harm in him,” and his saying, “His narrations from al-Zuhrī are weak,” for—Allah willing—the reason for the weakness of his transmission from al-Zuhrī will be clarified later.

In another report from Yahyā, transmitted by Ibn Abī Khaythama, he said: “He is unquestionably reliable in narrations other than those from al-Zuhrī, but his reports from al-Zuhrī are not up to standard; he only heard from him during the pilgrimage season.” (2)

And in the rendition related by Yaʿqūb ibn Shaybah, (3) he said: “Sufyān ibn Ḥusayn was an instructor, but he was not strong.”

In the version transmitted by Abū Dāwūd he said: “He was not a ḥāfiẓ, and he was not strong in what he narrated from al-Zuhrī.”