Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ, in his work “ʿUlūm al-Ḥadīth,” says:
“Exactly like this is the lengthy report transmitted from Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, which lists—surah by surah—the virtues of the Qur’an. One investigator traced its isnād until he reached a man who admitted that he and a group of others had fabricated it, and the marks of invention upon it are obvious. Al-Wāḥidī the exegete, and everyone after him who inserted it into their commentaries, were mistaken for doing so.
Among the forgers are beggars and vagrants who stand about in markets and mosques. They compose hadiths against the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, attaching to them sound chains of transmission they have memorised, and then relate those fabrications with those very isnāds.
Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad al-Ṭayālisī said:
‘Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn once prayed in the Ruṣāfa Mosque. A storyteller stood before them and declared:
“Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn narrated to us; both said: ʿAbd al-Razzaq informed us; he said: Maʿmar informed us, from Qatādah, from Anas, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: ‘Whoever says Lā ilāha illā Allāh, from each word a bird is created whose beak is of gold and whose plumage is of coral.’”
He then spun his tale for nearly twenty folios. Ahmad kept glancing at Yaḥyā and Yaḥyā at Ahmad. One asked the other, “Did you relate this to him?” “By Allah,” the other replied, “I never heard of it until this very moment.” They both remained silent until the storyteller finished. Then Yaḥyā said to him, “Who gave you this hadith?” He answered, “Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn.” Yaḥyā said, “I am Ibn Maʿīn, and this is Ahmad ibn Hanbal. We have never heard anything like this in the hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. If you must lie, then lie about someone else!”
The man asked, “You are Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn?” “Yes,” he replied. The storyteller retorted, “I have always heard that Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn is a fool—and only now have I realised it!” Yaḥyā said, “How did you come to that conclusion?” He answered, “As though there were no other Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn or Ahmad ibn Hanbal in the world but you two! I have written from seventeen different Ahmad ibn Hanbal besides this one.”
At that Ahmad covered his face with his sleeve and said, “Let him go.” The man departed, scoffing at them.
Such people—and all who tread their path—are liars against the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
It is related that al-Rashīd was fond of pigeons and of amusing himself with them. Pigeons were once presented to him while Abū al-Bakhtari was in his company