and Yahyā ibn Sa‘īd, Wakī‘, and Muhammad ibn ‘Ubayd narrated it from Ismā‘īl, from Muhammad, omitting the Companion from the chain.

In his narration, Yahyā ibn Sa‘īd said: “I asked Ismā‘īl, ‘From his father?’ He replied, ‘No.’”

Ahmad, however, judged the version with a connected chain authentic. Concerning Ismā‘īl ibn Abī Khālid’s narration of Sa‘d’s hadith, “The month is like this and like this,” he related that Yahyā al-Qattān said: “We wanted him to say, ‘From his father,’ but he refused.”

Ahmad said: “This was how Ismā‘īl narrated it: sometimes he gave it a connected chain, and sometimes he did not. Zā’ida narrated it with ‘from his father.’”

He was asked: “But Wakī‘ has narrated it, and Yahyā says what he says?” He replied: “Zā’ida has narrated it.”

He also said: “‘Abd Allāh narrated it with ‘from his father,’ as did Ibn Bishr, Zā’ida, and others.”

His statement makes clear that this addition comes from these trustworthy narrators and is therefore acceptable. It also shows that, when narrating to those who transmitted from him, he sometimes included it and sometimes omitted it.

A report has also been transmitted that explains it. Abū Bakr al-Khallāl and his companion narrated through Wakī‘, from Ismā‘īl ibn Abī Khālid, from Muhammad ibn Sa‘d, who said: The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“The month is like this, like this, and like this; and the month is like this, like this, and like this.”

Wakī‘ held up all ten fingers twice, then tucked in one—the thumb—on the third gesture.

These widely transmitted and accepted hadiths establish several points. The first is that his statement,

“We are an unlettered nation: we neither write nor calculate,”

is a declarative statement