is accused of fabricating hadith. Hajjāj ibn Artāh cannot be relied upon as evidence.”
One scholar said (1): Perhaps one (2) of these (3) weak narrators reversed the wording of the hadith because of their lack (4) of accuracy and precision, saying: “Four units of prayer before the Friday prayer,” when the wording is actually “after the Friday prayer.” It would then agree with what is authentically established in the Sahīh.
He continued: A comparable example is al-Shāfi‘ī’s comment on the narration of ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Umar al-‘Umarī: “Two shares for the horseman and one share for the foot soldier (5).” Al-Shāfi‘ī said (6): It is as though he heard Nāfi‘ say, “Two shares for the horse and one share for the foot soldier,” but said instead, “Two shares for the horseman and one share for the foot soldier” (7). That is, it would then agree with the narration of his brother ‘Ubayd Allāh. He said: No scholar doubts that ‘Ubayd Allāh ibn ‘Umar surpasses his brother in accuracy of retention (8).
I say: A comparable example is what Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyya said concerning the hadith of Abū