52 – ‘Abd Allah narrated to us; he said: Abu Salih transmitted to us, from ‘Abdan ibn ‘Uthman. He said: Ibn al-Mubarak narrated to us, from Hammad ibn Salamah, from ‘Ali ibn Zayd, who said: “In the era of ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, a man would relate a fine hadith to the people, and once they had listened, he would return with a muddled report. When he was reproached for that, he replied, ‘This is an age that requires one to feign stupidity.’”