concerning the expiation of gatherings (1). What, then, is its hidden flaw? Al-Bukhārī replied, “It is a fine ḥadith, and I know of nothing else on this subject anywhere in the world (2)—yet it is defective (3). It was narrated to us by Mūsā ibn Ismāʿīl: Wuhayb narrated to us, from Suhayl, from ʿAwn ibn ʿAbd Allāh, as his own statement.”
Al-Bukhārī added, “This version is preferable, for no hearing of Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah from Suhayl is known.”
I say: I have compiled a separate monograph devoted exclusively to this ḥadith, in which I set out all its chains, wordings, text, and defects; to Allah belong all praise and grace.
Al-Khaṭīb (4) said: “Muslim used to defend al-Bukhārī. He then recounted what occurred between al-Bukhārī and Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā al-Dhuhli over the issue of pronouncing the Qur’an in Nishapur, how al-Bukhārī was publicly denounced there, and that al-Dhuhli one day said to the people in his circle—Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj being among them—‘Whoever holds al-Bukhārī’s view [on the articulation of the Qur’an] (5) should leave our gathering.’ Muslim immediately rose, went home, gathered everything he had heard from al-Dhuhli, and sent it back to him. From then on he refrained completely from transmitting anything from al-Dhuhli, neither in his Ṣaḥīḥ nor elsewhere, and estrangement between them became firmly established. Al-Bukhārī, however, did not abandon him; he actually related from him in his Ṣaḥīḥ and excused him—may Allah have mercy on him.”
Al-Khaṭīb (6) also mentioned the cause of Muslim’s death—may Allah have mercy on him: “A session for scholarly discussion had been convened for him. One day he was asked about a ḥadith he did not know, so he returned home, lit the lamps, and said to his family, ‘No one is to come in to me tonight.’ A basket of dates had been presented to him; he would eat one date and look up a ḥadith, then eat another and look up another, continuing in that manner until dawn, by which time he had finished the whole basket without realizing it. Because of that he felt a heaviness and fell ill, and he died on Sunday evening. He was buried on Monday, five days before the end of Rajab in the year 261 AH. His birth had been in the very year that al-Shāfiʿī died, 204 AH, so his age was fifty-seven years. May Allah, Exalted is He, have mercy upon him.”
Abū Yazīd al-Bistāmī (7)—Tayfūr ibn ʿĪsā ibn Ādam ibn ʿĪsā ibn ʿAlī—was one of the leading Ṣūfī masters, and his grandfather