(And) the next category is to identify those cases where the name of a narrator’s teacher is identical to the name of the student who transmits from him. This is a refined topic that Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ did not discuss.
Its usefulness lies in dispelling any notion that the chain involves needless repetition (1) or that a name has been accidentally reversed (2).
Among its illustrations (3) is the case of al-Bukhārī: he narrated from a man called Muslim, and another Muslim narrated from him. His teacher was Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm al-Farāhīdī (4) al-Baṣrī, while the student who transmitted from him was Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj al-Qushayrī, the author of the Ṣaḥīḥ.
The same occurred with ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd: he narrated (5) from Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm, and Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj cited from him in his Ṣaḥīḥ (6) a hadith bearing this very heading.
(1) Codex T adds the word “fihi” (in it).
(2) Codex A reads “wanqilaban” (and a reversal).
(3) Codices A and T read “amthila” (examples).
(4) Codices A, B, C, H, W, Z, T, K, L, and the copy written in the margin of Y spell the nisba as “al-Faradisiyy.” Codices D, H, Y, and M give “al-Farahidi,” and this is the correct form, for he is the narrator from whom the authors of the Six Books transmitted. The author states in Taqrib al-Tahdhib, p. 529: “Muslim b. Ibrahim al-Azdi al-Farahidi—with fa—Abu Amr al-Basri; trustworthy, reliable, prolific; went blind toward the end of his life; one of the younger scholars of the ninth generation; died in 222 AH; he was the senior shaykh of Abu Dawud.” This is supported by the fact that al-Faradisiyy was a Syrian, whereas the Basran narrator is al-Farahidi; see al-Samani, al-Ansab, 10:161–66. Al-Laqani states in Qada al-Watar, p. 1575: “(al-Faradisiyy) appears in al-Biqaʿi’s hand. The copy in my possession, written by Ibn Shahrur and bearing the author’s own corrections, shows this is a scribal error; the correct reading, as found in some copies, is (al-Farahidi).”
(5) Codex T reads “wa rawa” (and he transmitted).
(6) Sahih Muslim, 13:1553.