I later came across a work entitled Applied Studies in Prophetic Hadith by a fiercely partisan Hanafi who teaches the hadith course at the University of Damascus. Throughout the book he displays marked bias in favour of his school and against the others, forcing textual interpretations or dismissing reports so that his madhhab should prevail. In the process he ignored many authentic traditions because they undermined his view and remained silent about the weakness of others because they supported it. I am not here concerned with refuting him on all that; what matters for our purposes is only what pertains to the present question, both from the hadith and the fiqh angles, lest some of his students—who lack the requisite knowledge—be misled by statements so far removed from scholarly accuracy and fairness. In this particular issue he actually supported the majority view and, without naming them, attempted to answer some of the proofs we have adduced in this blessed treatise, God willing. Thus, at the close of his book he quoted this hadith of Abu Hurayrah and wrote: “Objection is raised because it comes through the narration of Usayd b. Usayd al-Barrad. Al-Hafiz described him as saduq (reliable), and anyone who is characterized thus cannot transmit a sahih hadith, for he has not been praised for precision (dabt).” In reply I say: First: This reveals the author’s level of expertise—despite holding a doctorate in hadith!—for even a beginner knows that, in terms of grading, hadith fall into three categories: sahih (sound) and hasan (fair)