the strongest of these is the chain through al-Darāwardī, from Ja‘far ibn Muhammad, from his father. This is certainly an abridgment of his lengthy hadith concerning the Farewell Pilgrimage, narrated according to its meaning rather than verbatim. Other narrators differed from al-Darāwardī on this point, reporting: “He pronounced the talbiyah for Hajj,” and “He pronounced the talbiyah affirming Allah’s oneness.”

The second chain includes Mutarrif ibn Mus‘ab (1), from ‘Abd al-‘Azīz ibn Abī Hāzim, from Ja‘far. Regarding this Mutarrif (2), Ibn Hazm said (3): “He is unknown.”

I say: He is not unknown; rather, he is the son of Mālik’s sister. Al-Bukhārī, Bishr ibn Mūsā and a number of others narrated from him. Abū Hātim said: “He is truthful, though inconsistent in his transmission of hadith. I prefer him to Ismā‘īl ibn Abī Uways.” Ibn ‘Adī said (4): “He transmits objectionable reports.” It seems that Abū Muhammad saw ‘Mutarrif ibn Mus‘ab’ in the manuscript and therefore declared him unknown. In fact, he is Mutarrif Abū Mus‘ab: Mutarrif ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn Mutarrif ibn Sulaymān ibn Yasār.

Muhammad ibn ‘Uthmān al-Dhahabī also made this mistake in his book al-Du‘afā’ (Weak Narrators) (5), saying: “Mutarrif ibn Mus‘ab al-Madanī, who narrates from Ibn Abī Dhi’b: his hadiths are objectionable.”

I say: The narrator who transmits from Ibn Abī Dhi’b, al-Darāwardī and Mālik is Mutarrif Abū Mus‘ab al-Madanī (6). His hadiths are not objectionable as a general rule; he was merely misled by Ibn ‘Adī’s statement: “He transmits