Abū Zurʿah said, “He makes many mistakes.” Aḥmad remarked, “He is not strong,” and on another occasion, “His ḥadīth is acceptable.” Al-Fallas declared, “Poor memory,” while yet another critic judged him “reliable.” Al-Dhahabī mentioned him again in al-Kunā and added, “All of them criticized him.” Ibn Ḥajar stated categorically in al-Taqrīb that he is “weak of memory.” Ibn al-Qayyim wrote in Zād al-Maʿād (1/99): “O bearer of anomalies! None of the ḥadīth scholars ever relies on a report that he alone transmits.”

I say: No researcher who follows his narrations closely can doubt this, for he frequently contradicts the reports of trustworthy transmitters. This very ḥadīth is one example: we have already produced an authentic chain showing that ʿUmar ordered Ubayy to lead the people in eleven rakʿahs, and it is inconceivable that Ubayy would oppose the command of the Commander of the Believers—especially when that command accords with the Sunnah of the Master of the Messengers ﷺ, both in action and in the Prophet’s tacit approval of Ubayy, as explained earlier.
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